Category: Blues
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John Lee Hooker ‘House of the Blues’ (1959)
John Lee Hooker was a seminal figure in the development of modern blues, known for his raw hypnotic guitar style and deeply emotive vocal delivery that bridged the gap between Delta blues and electric urban blues that were starting to become en vogue by the end of the century. His distinctive approach to guitar– marked…
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The Record Company ‘Give It Back To You’ (2016)
I love a good album story as much as the next guy and The Record Company’s Give It Back To You has a pretty darn good one. The band wrote, recorded, and mixed their debut in the same living room where the band was formed, which is a pretty poetic way to go about things.…
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Alabama Shakes ‘Boys & Girls’ (2012)
Boys & Girls is steeped in the fuzz and feel of Southern soul, garage rock, and classic R&B. But what really sets the band apart is Brittany Howard’s spectacularly raw and emotive vocal performance.
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Joe Cocker ‘With a Little Help from My Friends’ (1969)
Joe Cocker’s With a Little Help From My Friends is one of those rare debut albums that feels both familiar and totally fresh, built almost entirely on covers but delivered with so much soul and grit you forget these songs weren’t his to begin with. Released in 1969, it finds Cocker reimagining some of the…
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Buster Poindexter ‘Buster Poindexter’ (1987)
The story behind Buster Pointdexter is incredible– David Johansen was the snarling frontman of the seminal proto-punk band New York Dolls during the early days of his career. And while the smoke-filled clubs of New York City had long been home to Johansen, by the mid-’80s he was ready for a transformation. Trading in his…
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The Rolling Stones ‘Beggars Banquet’ (1968)
Beggars Banquet marked a turning point for The Rolling Stones. The band returned to their roots with a raw mix of blues rock and country influences while at the same time introducing unique percussive elements like Latin percussion. These additions added a new rhythmic depth to their sound while still staying true to what made…
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The White Stripes ‘White Blood Cells’ (2001)
In the early 2000s The White Stripes almost singlehandedly reinvigorated garage rock and sparking a renaissance for the raw, unpolished sound the genre was known for. At their core was an enigma– Jack and Meg White, a duo whose relationship was shrouded in mystery. Were they siblings? Ex-spouses? The band reveled in the ambiguity, allowing…
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Kermit Ruffins ‘Have A Crazy Cool Christmas’ (2009)
Kermit Ruffins embodies New Orleans’ joyous spirit– with his swinging trumpet, warm voice, and infectious charisma, Ruffins has become a beloved fixture in the city, carrying on the legacy of jazz greats like Louis Armstrong while adding his own modern flair. From the streets of the Treme neighborhood to packed local bars and legendary festivals,…
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Etta James ‘At Last!’ (1960)
At just 22, Etta James had already lived a life rich with struggle and resilience when she stepped into Chicago’s Chess Records studio to record At Last. And with a delicate orchestral arrangement and a velvety, yearning vocal delivery, the title track “At Last” captured the essence of love’s deepest longing. There’s so many things…
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Bo Diddley ‘Bo Diddley’ (1958)
Known for his signature “Bo Diddley beat”—a syncopated, chugging rhythm that drew from African and Latin grooves— Bo Diddley introduced a powerful new pulse to blues music that paired along with his dynamic guitar playing. This beat, with its hypnotic “bomp ba-bomp bomp, bomp bomp” rhythm, became the backbone of his songs and inspired countless…
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Stevie Ray Vaughan ‘Texas Flood’ (1983)
In the heart of Texas, under the blazing sun, there lived a man named Stevie Ray Vaughan. He may have walked and talked like a man, but by all accounts he was a sorcerer from another dimension, whose fingers danced upon his ridiculously heavy strings as if they were alive. Legends whispered that he was…
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The Yardbirds ‘For Your Love’ (1965)
The Yardbirds’ claim to fame is a damn good one– the band launched the careers of Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page, three of the most respected blues rock guitar players of all-time. Their debut studio album For Your Love features the playing of Clapton and Beck respectively. Clapton, who was a founding member…
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Carl Perkins ‘Dance Album’ (1957)
Carl Perkins is sort of a forgotten pioneer of American rockabilly, a musician whose influential sound helped shape the early days of rock and roll and gave birth to some of its biggest stars. Take for example his massive hit “Blue Suede Shoes”– most people associate that song with Elvis Presley (for obvious reasons), but…
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Chicago ‘Chicago Transit Authority’ (1969)
Self-described as “a rock band with horns”, the venerable Chicago is one of the best-selling rock and roll bands of all-time with over 40 million records sold. Their unique approach to consistent corporate branding, their remarkably consistent studio album output (one album released per year from 1969 to 1980), and focus on delivering a simply…
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Dennis Wilson ‘Pacific Ocean Blue’ (1977)
Out of all the albums I’ve listened to over the last year in a half (529 plus in a row, and counting) the one that has come out of the woodwork and struck me completely by surprise is this one. I’m not a huge Beach Boys fan by any stretch of the imagination, and outside…
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The London Souls ‘Here Come the Girls’ (2015)
The London Souls’ 2015 album Here Come the Girls puts a unique spin on the traditional classic rock and roll formula, updating it in bits and pieces along the way to form a cohesive experience that sounds like an echo of the past reverberating in a modern room. Taking elements of 60’s jangly psychedelic rock…
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Free ‘Tons of Sobs’ (1969)
Born in the late 60’s British blues rock scene that would dominate the music scene in the late 60’s and early 70’s, Free was composed of Paul Rodgers (vocals), Paul Kossoff (guitar), Andy Fraser (bass, piano) and Simon Kirke (drums). They are primarily known today for their mega-smash hit “All Right Now” off their 1970…
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Creedence Clearwater Revival ‘Willy And The Poor Boys’ (1969)
As I said when writing about CCR’s album Green River, one of the hallmarks of an enduring band is their signature sound. Creedence Clearwater Revival has become synonymous with so many components of traditional Americana (especially the Vietnam war) due to their tried and true approach towards traditional blue rock and their earnest adoption of…
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Tom Waits ‘Mule Variations’ (1999)
Tom Waits’ Mule Variations is a backwoods country Delta Blues album masquerading as an art piece, encapsulating much of what has made Waits such an iconic American songwriter for over 50 years. It’s utterly otherworldly in one moment, sounding as if it was recorded after a week-long bender in a humid water-logged shed on the…
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ZZ Top ‘Eliminator’ (1983)
ZZ Top’s brand of Texas blues generated a ton of smash hits during their heyday during the mid to late 70’s, and in 1983’s Eliminator they introduced synthesizers and drum machines to create a more pop-oriented and commercially viable version of the boogie rock that made them famous. If you’re looking for the album that…
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The Black Keys ‘El Camino’ (2011)
Garage rock is one of my purest loves, and The Black Keys were one of the bands that encompassed the garage rock movement of the early 2000’s. Initially the band was just a two-piece drummer/guitarist blues rock combo a la The White Stripes, and while they experienced some underground success during the decade alongside their…
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Albert King ‘Born Under A Bad Sign’ (1967)
We love a good album opening song as much as anybody, and goddamn does Born Under A Bad Sign ever have one with its title track “Born Under A Bad Sign”. If you’re looking for a perfect example of the sheer power of the blues, a song that rips and grooves and swings with a…
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James Bay ‘Chaos And The Calm’ (2014)
James Bay’s Chaos And The Calm was seemingly everywhere during the mid 2010’s– his husky emotive voice, dreamy clean guitars, and comfortably simple arrangements made him a household name, especially once “Hold Back The River” hit radio airwaves and launched him into a full blown superstar at the age of 24 years old. Bay isn’t…
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Elvin Bishop ‘Struttin’ My Stuff’ (1975)
Elvin Bishop has a long and storied history in the blues genre, sharing the stage with such icons such as The Allman Brothers Band and The Grateful Dead. An original member of Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Bishop was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the 2015 class as a member of…
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Cream ‘Disraeli Gears’ (1967)
Cream’s Disraeli Gears has stood the test of time as a key album in the late 60’s psychedelic era. The legendary three piece featured Eric Clapton (vocals/guitar), Jack Bruce (vocals/bass), and the iconic Ginger Baker (percussion/vocals). It’s almost hard to imagine a three-piece could create a sound so heavy and big as Cream, but the…
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Fats Domino ‘Fats Domino Swings’ (1959)
Fats Domino boogy woogie piano licks, arrangements that emphasized the upbeat, and infectious energy helped define the early sound of rock and roll. Fats was a true pioneer of the genre, with an estimated 110 million records sold over his lifetime, and has gone down in history as one of the critical pieces of bringing…
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Howlin’ Wolf ‘Moanin’ In The Moonlight’ (1959)
Known for his raucous live shows and larger than life figure (it’s been said that he weighed 300 pounds during “his salad days”, which is frankly a helluva quote) 6 foot 3 Chester “Howlin’ Wolf” Burnett was an imposing presence in the early days of acoustic Delta Blues and played a pivotal role in transforming…
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The Teskey Brothers ‘Run Home Slow’ (2019)
If I had to use one word to describe The Teskey Brothers 2019 album Run Home Slow? Timeless. Bringing together soul, Americana, and gospel blues in the style of Otis Redding has been done once over throughout the course of music history, but rarely has it sounded so damn smooth from a contemporary band. Much…
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G. Love & Special Sauce ‘Yeah, It’s That Easy” (1997)
G. Love & Special Sauce are a throwback to the days when bands would cut their albums live in the studio in a single room together, embracing all the tiny imperfections and letting them shine through in a quest to capture that distinctly human sound of a collection of musicians creating together in real time.…
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Buddy Guy ‘A Man And The Blues’ (1968)
Buddy Guy has influenced some of the most legendary guitar players of all-time– classic icons like Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix to contemporary players like Gary Clark Jr. and John Mayer have all taken inspiration from Buddy Guy over the years, borrowing from his vast catalog of frenetic and iconic runs over the fretboard. If…
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Melissa Etheridge ‘Yes I Am’ (1993)
Melissa Etheridge and “Come To My Window” in particular was a staple for me and my first girlfriend in 8th grade. It was our record and a fixture in the mixtapes we would trade with one another to help articulate our feelings. For that reason Etheridge will always represent young love and all the naive…
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Chuck Berry ‘Chuck Berry Is on Top’ (1959)
Nicknamed “The Father of Rock and Roll” throughout his career, Chuck Berry laid the blueprint for translating 12-bar blues into a more energetic and electric version, inspiring artists like Little Richard and Elvis Presley. Berry was effectively the change agent that transformed the face of popular American music at the time and ushered in the…
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The Blues Brothers ‘Original Soundtrack Recording’ (1980)
If you haven’t seen the original 1980 Blues Brothers film with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, put it to the top of your list this week. It’s an excellent film filled with excellent music, a real cult classic that has aged like a fine wine. Belushi and Aykroyd created the characters as a bit for…
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Creedence Clearwater Revival ‘Green River’ (1969)
One of the hallmarks of a great and enduring band is their signature sound. It’s that sound you immediately recognize and know who it is when the first note hits and the entire band hops in. It’s the punchy distortion of AC/DC’s guitars, the G-Funk synthesizers of Dr. Dre, and the dual guitar harmonies of…
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