Posted by Benz on Sep 9, 2010
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What are some good recordings (post 1970) of acoustic blues guitar music? I love the old…?
Categories: Guitar | 5 comments
. . . blues stuff redone by others. . .
I’ve heard Steve James, Stefan Grossman, Jorma Kaukonnen and others re-do the old blues greats: Robert Johnson, Slleepy John Estes, Bill Broonzy etc.
I am looking for more in this vein, (solo, preferably)
5 Responses to “What are some good recordings (post 1970) of acoustic blues guitar music? I love the old…?”
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Leadbelly, Bukka White, Son House
Eric Clapton’s two albums dedicated to Robert Johnson:
Me And Mr. Johnson
The Robert Johnson Sessions
It is generally agreed that Me And Mr. Johnson is better than The Robert Johnson Sessions.
Check out footage of the Crossroads Blues Festival on YouTube, they have taken place in 2004, 2007 and 2010. You can buy DVD’s of the Festival and it features many notable guitarists covering Blues songs on both electric and acoustic.
The White Stripes also do great Blues covers, check out their covers of:
Blind Willie McTell’s The Southern Can Is Mine
Son House’s Death Letter Blues
Robert Johnson’s Stop Breaking Down
Robert Johnson’s If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day
Nirvan also covered Lead Belly’s Where Did You Sleep Last Night on their Unplugged gig.
When I think of blues today I usually think of great vocalists or people who do a lot of different guitar styles and maybe did one or two blues songs and a lot of bluegrass sounding stuff along with some southern rock. And, I’m assuming you already have Clapton’s Unplugged.
So, one name comes to mind that fits your bill. I really like John Hammond for blues guitar. Some of his albums are more toward the electric, but most of them are acoustic. He has some old favorites, and some stuff you might not have heard before. The guitar is always great, and sometimes you get to hear the resonator –which I just love.
The harmonica work is also quite good. You don’t hear the kind of precision that you do from the likes of John Popper, but you hear harmonica that perfectly fits this style of blues. He does a lot of harmonica himself. (I don’t know if he does all of it.) This is just impressive because when you listen to him play guitar it’s stunning that he can do anything else at all while doing that.
I got a chance to hear and see him play live this past year. I’d pay to do that again and again given the opportunity. He makes it look so effortless.
Below, I’ve only supplied widgets for cds of his I’ve heard and have, but I’ve heard enough to trust buying any of his recordings. Push Comes to Shove has some songs that are his and some written by other folks. Wicked Grin is all Tom Waits songs performed by Hammond. I couldn’t pick a favorite.
Cheers!
Cyndy
Keb Mo’ I won’t go into all the details that others have done.Listen for yourself.
John Hammond-the best of them all. I recommend all of his albums
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4LzGs99r10
Roy Bookbinder-I’d recommend most of his stuff, particularly “Live Book”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DZTNBHelm4
Tom Ball & Kenny Sultan-I recommend everything
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V19GmxksFx4
John Sebastian & The J Band-all I own is “Chasin’ Gus’ Ghost”. recommended
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkwrVnIATbk
Chris Smither-Chris is as much folkie/singer-songwriter as he is blues preservationist, but no one does better at recreating 12 string Piedmont blues on a six string. Any of his albums are worth having
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igMOZuh99bs
John Cephas & Phil Wiggins-a modern day Sonny & Brownie. Unfortunately, John passed a few years ago. Any of their handful of records is worthwhile
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QnvDSzxhIQ&feature=PlayList&p=038F6A5437DAEA76&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=16
Geoff Muldaur-formerly of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, and also a member of the J Band above, one of the first of the 60′s folkies to play some serious blues guitar.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDv7YLiKJ_M
There’s only one name I can end with after starting with John Hammond-Dave Van Ronk, The Mayor of MacDougal Street. Here he is performing the song Jackson Browne among many, many others learned from him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qzPjztRAoY
If any of these whet your appetite, feel free to e-mail me and I’ll be glad to give you another bunch of names.
P.S., just read Cyndi’s post. No offense intended to her, but although we both obviously agree on John Hammond, I have to strongly disagree on the harmonica. John can play circles around John Popper (as can most players). Playing a lot of meaningless notes may seem flashy, but it isn’t particularly difficult, or musical.