Blues, – a part of life. I heard the genre, lot many years ago, when I stepped in to college. The marketing companies, record labels, put a label on it, and call it ”blues’. Well, I’d like to think more of it. For instance, the sound of the sacred steel (read : slide guitar ) is just beyond words. You can only feel it. There a lot of feel to blues music, which I feel has disappeared in the new crop. Musicians with great talent, but lack the feel; or it could also be the other way round, you know !!
Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Etta James, Little Walter, Willie Dixon, The King’s – BB / Albert / Freddie, Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, Elmore James, Willie Brown, Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, Jimmy Reed, Big Mama Thorton, Sonny Boy Williamson, Eric Clapton, SRV, – are some of the greats I have heard, and loved.
I’m a blues puritan, but at the same time I welcome change. The new artists lack the ensemble sound of the Chicago style; they sound more ‘rock-ish’.
‘ I rambled all the time. I was just like that, like a rollin’ stone. ‘ – Muddy Waters
