Top Ten Blues Artists
Top Ten Blues Artists by Roxanne McDonald
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Some we have had the luxury of having seen in concert; some we revere as our personal favorites; others we might disagree on. But all stunning, stellar talents who have changed our way of thinking, our lives, or even our world. |
Muddy Waters – Maybe I was and still am too green to fully appreciate the seasoned superiority of style, but when I first heard and saw Muddy Waters jamming on that harp in 1976, I knew that as much as I loved rock and roll, my indoctrination in blues music made blues a close runner up.
Etta James – I can’t get enough of this dignified Diva, and neither can her thousands of fans: sixty-nine years young and STILL rocking the tours.
Young Johnny Lang – Has he paid his dues to the Blues? Is he old enough to merit a place on the list? Just listen to “Wander This World” or other selections, and you will agree that Lang has one of the oldest souls in the genre…despite how he was a teenager when he made his debut.
J.J. Cale – I forgive you if you say, “Who?” But you likely know him even if you think you don’t: he is the mastermind author behind “After Midnight”, popularized by Eric Clapton; “Cocaine”, also an Eric Clapton chart-topper; and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Call Me the Breeze.” But I will always know him by the first J.J. Cale song I was introduced to, “Crazy Mama.”
Stevie Ray Vaughan – We were gifted with his brilliant guitar playing and ripped off when he died way too young, going down in a helicopter at the age of thirty-six [thirty-five (thanks, W.A. for the correction)]. Still, we can play a few licks of “Pride and Joy” or “Lovestruck” and have not only instant identification but bittersweet gratification…from the one Rolling Stone mag names as #7 on their list of Top 100 Guitarists of All Time.
B.B. King – The thrill may be gone for him with regards to a relationship, but it never goes dull for us fans of this most brilliant and legendary master of blues. I met B.B. King in the eighties, and though we all were doin’ the “We’re not worthy!” thing, someone from another planet would have pegged the man as an ordinary buddy hanging out with friends…that’s how humble and unaffected [and fun!] he is.
Johnny Winter – No, he did not make his claim to blues guitar fame by playing on the Hendrix/Morrison bootleg album. And he didn’t get to this list by being emulated, imitated, and celebrated for his rocker stylings, either. Rather, consider the delivery of one of the most practiced songs of all time, “Johnny B. Goode,” or consider the re-makes that the distinct Winter sound covers almost better than the original artists. Just consider, if you haven’t, listening to Winter and then convincing Rolling Stone [who named him at #74 on their list of 100 Greatest Guitarist of All Time] or Digital Dream Door [who put him at #64] to move Johnny up the list.
Billie Holiday - She had a reason to sing the blues; we get a reason to feel them. Seductive, sultry, sensitive. Supreme.
Bessie Smith - No one and no thing [machine] will ever capture or recapture Smith’s versatility of shade and sound, but what we do have the privilege to is the syle and delivery of a most telling songstress, whether she was standin’ in the rain, sittin’ in a cell, or doing the cakewalk.
Ray Charles – Not only does the legendary Mr. Charles top the greatest performer and blues lists, and not only does he bring on a uniquely coined gospel and Charles style, but he has gone into the history books as being the man who was banned from Georgia for refusing to play to segregated audiences. He never sold out professionally, and musically he was uncompromising.
That’s what I love about all of my choices, in fact: that they were/are adamantly artists first, withholding nothing but giving in to no one, either.
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Great list!!! Etta messes me up real good!!! A slight correction: Stevie Ray Vaughan was 35 when he died. He would have been 36 the following October.
W.A.
Comment by W.A. — July 30, 2007 @ 11:09 pm