Blues Artists

The very meaning of blue in the dictionary implies depression and melancholy kind of jazz. Blues typically is a story, usually a story of heartbreak or some other pain that is easy to relate to. The original blues artists began playing music on the streets in the south. Everyone can identify with the pain of a lost love and so this often serves as the basis for many blues songs. Not only can people relate to it, but its content creates for a dynamic performance that comes from the soul. Not many styles of music fire up deep emotion and move us the way that the blues does.

Blues artists in the 20s and 30s artists like Charley Patton, Lonnie Johnson, Son House and others have some of the original blues recordings. These performances and recordings are often rough and raw.

During the 30s and 40s, when talking about the blues one man comes to mind as the absolute embodiment of the genre, the emotion, and the lifestyle: Robert Johnson–considered by many to be the absolute pinnacle of this genre, his life was often steeped in mystery and legend. It was rumoured that in order to become so good at the blues and guitar, Johnson had to sell his soul to the devil at the crossroads.

One of the most successful blues artists, B.B. King is also known for crossing over to different genres, including rock and roll, jazz and country. He is known for his highly emotive style with the goal being not to play super fast or super loud, but with the most soul and emotion possible. He developed a musical skill that sounded as if the guitar itself was singing and weeping. His music always seems to be just dripping with emotion.

In the late 60s perhaps the greatest guitarist came into the scene–Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix’s music was firmly in the rock and roll realm in the late 60s but his guitar playing is designed around the playing of the past masters. Emotive and expressive Hendrix was known for performing elaborate jams and freak outs on stage including noise solos, improvisation sessions, playing with his teeth and lighting his guitar on fire.

Another blues artist is Clapton; his music is responsible for the major portion of blues revival in the 1960s. A blues purest, Clapton’s music is true to the original electric blues format, but he also expands to include country flavors, reggae, psychedelic, and folk. In the 1960s there were another young blues artists who took the genre as a basis for a new form of music. Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin took blues from powerful and emotional to stadium rock and paved the way for the first heavy metal artists. After the break up of Led Zeppelin, blues continued to be upheld by some of their classic rock brethren (Aerosmith, AC/DC), but not as much with new bands. In the 80s and 90s Stevie Ray Vaughan both reinvented and revived the blues.

With this brief history about blues artists, it’s then safe to say that the blues will never die as there will always be enthusiasts willing to carry on the blues tradition.