Blues Featured Artists
Susan Tedeschi
Bonnie Raitt's heir apparent emerged out of an unlikely spot in the late 1990s. Her name was Susan Tedeschi, and she was from Boston, but damned if she didn't sound straight out of Beaumont. That's never been more true than on her 2005 album "Hope and Desire", where the acclaimed songwriter tackles some classic covers with all the husky vigor of Janis Joplin. read more »
- Filed under:
- Blues » Modern Electric Blues
Katie Webster
Born in Texas and raised in Louisiana, Katie Webster learned barrelhouse piano and gained deep love of secular Southern music despite her parents' best efforts. She played on numerous Excello and Goldmark sessions and toured with Otis Redding, and the late artist's own full-bodied recordings reflect this wide range of influences by mixing blues, soul, gospel, boogie-woogie, and R&B.; read more »
- Filed under:
- Blues » Louisiana Blues
- Location:
- Louisiana, United States
Dr. John
Far from destroying New Orleans' musical culture, Hurricane Katrina has inspired a renaissance of odes from the city's finest artists (just look at the recent ubiquity of native son Aaron Neville). "Sippiana Hericane," a new four-song EP from legendary blues pianoman Dr. John, tackles the subject with the good doctor's characteristic mix of soulful sorrow and resilient spirit. read more »
- Filed under:
- R&B;/Soul » New Orleans R&B;
- Location:
- New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Tinsley Ellis
Blues-rock fans still pining over the loss of Stevie Ray Vaughan can take solace in the presence of Atlanta's Ellis. A true axe-master in the tradition of Vaughan and Jeff Beck, Ellis thankfully never trades swamp-blues grit for vain riffage; his tunes are as blissful for their fiery tone and bayou rhythms as for their searing fretwork. read more »
- Filed under:
- Blues » Modern Electric Blues
- Location:
- Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Blind Arvella Gray
The "new" release from this Delta bluesman is undoubtedly the year's must-have for devotees of the traditional blues-folk sound. Gray, who spent much of his life as a gravelly voiced busker in Chicago, recorded only one album, 1972's "The Singing Drifter." This stunning collection of lovesick ballads has long been a favorite of no less than Bob Dylan, and will now be put out by Cary Baker as the kickoff record for his new Conjuroo label. read more »
- Filed under:
- Blues » Acoustic Chicago Blues
- Location:
- Chicago, Illinois, United States
What Is Blues?
Often sad, lonely, and mournful, but in other cases fully energized and bursting with electric-guitar-fueled vigor, blues is one of the most powerful, influential, and popular musical styles to have risen during the last few centuries. Its origins are based in Africa, and it arrived on American shores during the slave trade. It's a music strongly associated with the American South, where field hollers, spirituals, and folk stories turned into full-fledged songs, with banjo and then guitar and piano as their main accompaniment. The song structure is simple--much of classic blues is based around a three-chord, 12-bar progression that leaves room for boundless improvisation--and it serves as a foundation for much of today's popular music. Acoustic country blues, often from the Mississippi Delta, blossomed during the 1920s, while during the '40s the electric guitar took the music in wild new directions (including north to Chicago). Today it's still being picked on the front porches of tar-paper shacks, but it's just as frequently fired up loud and proud in front of a barroom (or for that matter stadium) crowd. In either case, though, it remains a music that reflects hardship, trouble, and strife, but also perseverence and strength of character--to know the blues is to be in touch with your true spirit and soul.
Notable Artists: Robert Johnson, Skip James, Muddy Waters, B.B. King
Blues Charts
 
4: Matt Thorpefiled under: Modern Electric Blues
downloads last week: 693
location: London, United Kingdom
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Shemekia Copelandfiled under: Modern Electric Blues
downloads last week: 305
location: New York, United States
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Katie Websterfiled under: Louisiana Blues
downloads last week: 336
location: Louisiana, United States
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