Blues
Music Blues Links
Blues Artists
Story of the Blues
Blues
rose out of our roots in America both in the north (Chicago) as well as
the south (Mississippi,Memphis).
Muddy
Waters was the first of the great Chicago bluesmen, he distinguished
himself as a pioneer of electric blues. B.B.
King, the most popular bluesman ever, has given the blues its place
in popular Western culture. His heartfelt rendering of the timeless classic
The Thrill Is Gone remains the most recognizable blues tune in the world.
Albert
King grew up on the gospel sound and played the Delta blues circuit
until the late 1950's, King's career took him to the rock and classical
stages as well. Robert
Johnson is known by many as the father of the blues, legend
has it that Robert made a deal with the Devil; in exchange for his soul
he wanted to play the guitar better than anyone.He had large hands with
long fingers, and this was how he was able to play such strange and innovative
chords and notes.
If there can be
a single link between the Delta stylings of Robert Johnson and the
modern works of Duane
Allman, Stevie Ray Vaughan,
Johnny
Winter, and Eric Clapton,
it would be in the person of Elmore
James. James was a Johnson disciple, but with the advent of the electric
guitar, he utterly re-created the sound. If Elmore James was the
link in the chain, then John
Lee Hooker was the anchor. Hooker continued
to broaden the depths
of the blues while also welcoming such crossover artists as
Canned Heat, Carlos
Santana, Van Morrison, Bonnie Raitt, and George Thorogood.
