d halfnote Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 The 1st time I met the blues I was abt 3 yrs old & got into my Mom's stash of 45s, I was looking for a Hank Williams song that she'd lullaby me to sleep with [video:youtube] That's bluesy but what I found instead was this record by the Cadets, some 1950s would-be Coasters [video:youtube] ...sounds silly but that "Ah-ah-ah-AH-ah" refrain scared the diaper offa me & when yer only 3 a alone in a room with that sound, that's some 3 yr old blues ! More relevantly, I caught a whiff of blues when Ray Charles had this hit a few yrs later [video:youtube] Then, when The Beatles transformed pop music & alla those Brit cats started acting like the were the real deal w/ stuff like this [video:youtube] I thought that was hip...& I guess it was, in it's way (Eric Burdon remains the best of that sort) Then one night I settled down to watch some more hip, rockin' bluesy bands on TV & I saw this [video:youtube] ----------------------------------------------What's yer story ?----------------------------------------------------- the 1st time Buddy Guy met 'em [video:youtube] & in case ya missed the point he slows things down & tells the story again [video:youtube] Here's 1st timer Rory Gallagher [video:youtube] Jack Bruce told it this way / who dat on gtr ? [video:youtube] It's said the Yardbirds met the blues, but nobody told Eric Clapton [video:youtube] 60s San Fran rockers Moby Grape, led by Jerry "Guitar" Miller & the rough-hewn vox of bassist Bob Mosley, set off looking for Mr Blues, apparently w/ an axe to grind 'bout him "pickin' on people with nothin' to lose" [video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qkfBP8ZwA0 French jazzbo Rich Arame met the blues in the woods outside Versailles [video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA8U6EFqgQ8 Pianer playing Eurreal "Little Bro" Montgomery says, "Hey, wait a minnit, I met the blues before all y'all...just keepin' ya'real !" [video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd5pzbKWglg d=halfnote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitefang Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 Another plethora of clips from d. Why am I NOT surprised? I WAS kinda amused by ONE confession though...... That "Ah,ah, ah, ah, AH" chorus scared the DIAPER off you? At THREE YEARS OLD??? Shoulda been OUT of them at that age! I met the blues at around five or six. My older brother had this plastic "crystal" radio that was built from a kit that you just snapped together. No cord or batteries needed. And you fastened an aligator clip at the end of a wire to anything metal as your antenna, and could only hear it through what looked like headphones with only one ear cover. He'd give me a hard time about listening to it, so when he fell asleep each night( which for him was when head hit pillow) I'd sneak to where he THOUGHT he was hiding it from me and clip the wire to the metal framework in our upstairs window frame and stay up late listening to music. I also learned that during the "wee" hours, AM radio signals can travel great distances and I'd listen to weather and news from as far as New York City, Boston and St. Louis. "Surfing" around more I hit upon a station in Chicago that played what sounded to me like much of the rock'n'roll music I'd hear on local stations. But SOME of it was different. I forgot the call letters, but the DJ would announce evey now and then, "Your station for the BLUES in CHI-Town!" And the songs he'd play were by guys with odd and cool sounding names like "Muddy", "Lightnin' ", "B.B.", "Howlin' ", "Gatemouth" and "Sonny Boy". I was already big on guys like Ray Charles, Lloyd Price, Clyde McPhatter, The Clovers and Drifters, so I realized these "blues" guys were "colored" but it didn't matter. I was always careful though, to not fall asleep with that "headphone" on my head and get busted, and busted up by my brother. And usually pretty bleary-eyed in school the next day. About a year or so later he traded the radio to a kid for some kind of bike horn, so I didn't get to hear much of that cool music until my Mother remarried and my stepsister Gloria came to stay with us a while and brought along her fantastic record collection of some blues, Early SUN 45s of Elvis, Carl Perkins and some old 78s and 45s of Hank Williams. That's how I came to first hear the song, "Move It On Over" TWENTY YEARS before George Thurogood destroyed it. It would be several years before Gloria(who also played guitar) would help make it the first song I learned to sing AND play all the way through. Whitefang I started out with NOTHING...and I still have most of it left! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CEB Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 Probably the 70s. It came as a piano student. I worked through blues text and my Jazz studies required a study of the Blues which was a foundation of Jazz. As a kid I became enamored with the Johnny Rivers tune Rockin Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu. That led me to discovering New Orleans Piano and that road lead to Professor Longhair. I really like the post war Blues orchestra sound: BB King, Albert King, Freddie King, Bobbly Blue Bland... all when playing the large format band(with horns). I played Blues festival circuits as a Hammond and piano player. Personally I liked SRV's music but I hated to see his rise in popularity because at a local level it killed the Blues and transformed the landscape into the world of Strats and hats but I could still get gigs playing the festivals as a sideman. Big locally I got totally tired of dudes running Strats and tube screamers into dimed Bassmen amps spew all over the place breaking the stage mix. My main guitar was the used Strat I got in 7th grade. I pretty much became a Tele guy after that. SRV was a good Rock guitar player. But he had way more in common with Robin Trower than he did with 3 Kings. SRV tried to do a Blues album at Carnegie Hall but IMO it was bad. He played like he was did in his Rock Trio but it was over playing with the horn sections and the end result was mess. There wasn't enough space in a big Blues band for SRV. "It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne "A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!! So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dannyalcatraz Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 Honestly, I have no idea. Mom was a music teacher in NOLA, so blues, gospel, soul, jazz, classical and opera- as well as probably a few more- have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I stumbled on new wave, punk, disco, funk metal, ska, reggae, new age, etc. each in turn as I grew up. Sturgeon's 2nd Law, a.k.a. Sturgeon's Revelation: âNinety percent of everything is crapâ My FLMS- Murphy's Music in Irving, Tx http://murphysmusictx.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bottom End Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 I was fortunate to be introduced to the best from day one: BB King's "Completely Well" was played often in my house from the time I was born. Grew up on 60's and '70's radio, the Brits selling blues back to the Americans, and like it or not, the Blues Brothers movie did me a great service by showing me where the real blues came from. Stevei Ray and Robert Cray hit big in my high school years, and a driver's license and a job gave me access to acts like Albert King and Bobby "Blue" Bland when they came through town. My boss for five years played everything from Muddy Waters to the Nighthawks every workday. Two years later while I was stationed in Germany, my first long weekend I took an all night train across the country to see Robert Cray play, and I year later I saw Omar and the Howlers in a little club not far from the Wall in west Berlin. I never got to see SRV, but I did get to see BB King play shows on two continents over the space of twenty years. "Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, yet you cannot play upon me.'-Hamlet Guitar solos last 30 seconds, the bass line lasts for the whole song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p90jr Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 Honestly, I have no idea. Mom was a music teacher in NOLA, so blues, gospel, soul, jazz, classical and opera- as well as probably a few more- have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I stumbled on new wave, punk, disco, funk metal, ska, reggae, new age, etc. each in turn as I grew up. Same story, down the road in Baton Rouge (dad was from New Orleans), both parents were music teachers and players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JuJu Kwan Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 2012 Kennedy Center honors Buddy Guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluesape Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 BB on TV, on the Johnny Cash Show, I think... Never a DUH! moment! Well, almost never. OK, OK! Sometimes never! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitefang Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 OK BA, if that's so it would be about 1969. That's when Cash had his "summer replacement" TV show. Interesting take by CEB about SRV. It does seem his rise to fame came on the coattails of(what I've heard some call)"electric white rock blues". In another thread I mentioned JAMES TAYLOR'S birthday. I remember seeing an old tape of a show he did on PBS, and in it(just before he did a very early performance of "Steamroller") he expresses a disdain for rock'n'roll bands trying to play blues "with loud electric guitars and fuzz-tones and somehow thinking 'volume equals soul' ". At the time, I had to agree with him. Still do. But in reading up a bit about BUDDY GUY, the info credited HIM with influencing Hendrix to play guitar behind his head. A trick Buddy no doubt got from T-Bone Walker. As guitar players, we all like to focus on blues guitarists. But jazz great alto man CHARLIE PARKER once said, "I judge how good a man can blow by how good he can play the BLUES." And indeed we overlook other great bluesmen who do their thing on other instruments. Like Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson(sax), or (and mentioned by CEB) Pianist Professor Longhair. And of course, legendary SATCHMO had HIS roots in blues. Blues was never all about the guitar and Robert Johnson and Blind Lemon Jefferson. There were also great blues piano guys like Longhair, Roosevelt Sykes, Charlie"cow cow" Davenport, Otis Spann and others as well. And let's not get started on the harmonica or women blues greats! (Ma Rainey, Sippie Wallace, Ida Cox, Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters and them). Whitefang I started out with NOTHING...and I still have most of it left! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larryz Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 I have never caught the blues bug...I do know the blues scales and chord patterns play a major part of my rock and roll and country, rockabilly, country rock, jazz and blues, etc., playing. It provides a foundation in tons of genres. I enjoy listening to the blues and guys like Buddy Guy, Johnny Winter, BB King, etc., but it's just not my vibe as far as my singing and playing goes...Ray Charles does influence me a lot and I love his stuff! Take care, Larryz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitefang Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 Well, there's really no clear explanation as to what grabs some and not others. I know other guys my age who couldn't get into any of the older "big band" stuff, yet now I know some young enough to be my grandkids who DO. Something about blues and it's accessibility to self expression just hit a chord with me. And it's reliance on not technique, but rather FEELING needed to play it good. You can learn all the scales and techniques and runs you want, but if you can't FEEL it, it won't work. As for "Brother Ray", he not only "crossed over" racial lines, but cultural lines as well. And spanned generations. Old, young, black, white, North Americans, South Americans, Asians, Latinos, Yankees and "good ol' boys" all loved his music. I knew an Alabama boy, Klansman, who had a Ray Charles collection to DIE for! Whitefang I started out with NOTHING...and I still have most of it left! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocPate Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 Great thread! Some great responses. First time I heard the blues was in the 50s on WLAC radio when JohnR and the other DJS played all of the old Delta artists - Muddy, Wolf, John Hurt, Leadbelly and others too numerous to mention. Now that weas a time when us white guys and gals weren't allowed to listen publically to "those people's" music. But that also was a time of change when the Blues were signalling the change in attitudes across the country. Even in Nashville and Memphis, the Blues were the foundation. I won't post a bunch of clips, but one song stands out in my memory as the one that really turned me on to the blues. Great guitar work by Hubert Sumlin and Muddy, great harp work by Little Walter and great vocals by Muddy. After that, I had to go to Randy's Record Shop in Gallatin and get all of the blues records I could find... During the late 90s and early 2000s I kind of got away from contemporary blues. I guess I listened to a little Allman Brothers and the occasional replay of Led Zeppelin, Yardbirds, and John Mayall, but the newer blues artists didn't really appeal to me. But to be honest, since Derek Trucks left the Allman Brothers and teamed up with Susan Tedeschi, I find myself listening more and more to their music. For example - "The Sky is Crying" - Listen to Derek at his best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertbluesman Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 when didya meet the blues ? 1960's, late 60's, I saw BB King on TV, it was love at first sound...... dbm If it sounds good, it is good !! http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=143231&content=music Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hurricane hugo Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 I have never caught the blues bug...I do know the blues scales and chord patterns play a major part of my rock and roll and country, rockabilly, country rock, jazz and blues, etc., playing. It provides a foundation in tons of genres. Same here; I've actively avoided it for most of the 36 years I've been playing guitar. http://blip.fm/invite/WorkRelease Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larryz Posted March 15, 2017 Share Posted March 15, 2017 +1 Hurricane! I just can't capture the slower blues vibe and the feeling that is needed with my vocal pipes. The blues seems to go on and on sometimes. I'm more of a jazzy kind of guy with maybe some jump blues old R&B Elvis style remake...I do love listening to it now and then when there is a good live blues band at the club! Take care, Larryz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitefang Posted March 15, 2017 Share Posted March 15, 2017 I'll sometimes go to the "Blues" channel in the MUSIC CHOICE collection of channels on my cable TV server, and they quite often play some newer blues recordings( far back as 2014!) and I can get where Doc is coming from about newer blues artists. They all seemed based in blues "cliches". But every now and then they'll put on something from "way back" and I'm in HEAVEN! And TOO many "kids" seem to think that just bending notes will make it "blues". Whitefang I started out with NOTHING...and I still have most of it left! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d halfnote Posted March 15, 2017 Author Share Posted March 15, 2017 Another plethora of clips from d. They're here for edification. Oftly a pictcha's worth many werdz not even countin' attached audio. Maybe sometime you'll even learn something from one of 'em ! Personally I liked SRV's music but I hated to see his rise in popularity because at a local level it killed the Blues and transformed the landscape into the world of Strats and hats... What locality ? Or were you speaking more generally ? In Austin his fame didn't engender the same "imi-taters" (imitative potato-heads) he did in pop culture. There it was viewed as a good thing for a local light who'd been popping his cork in & around for yrs & when he took alla that David Bowie money & used it to pull his band up into the national leagues, that garnered him even greater respect. While I agree that he was rock---or Hendrix--- oriented the blues continued to inform his music's basis...& make no mistake, he hung w/the real cats that came through Cliff Antone's club & had their respect in a very serious way, both before & aft his fame. BB on TV, on the Johnny Cash Show, I think... Haven't been able to track that down, even on the Cash Show retrospective CDs or DVDs. Could it have been this ? [video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watchv=pC4DDkye8FU OK BA, if that's so it would be about 1969. That's when Cash had his "summer replacement" TV show. 2 years, "©ash-you-ally" Blues was never all about the guitar and Robert Johnson and Blind Lemon Jefferson. There were also great blues piano guys like Longhair, Roosevelt Sykes, Charlie"cow cow" Davenport, Otis Spann and others as well. And let's not get started on the harmonica or women blues greats! (Ma Rainey, Sippie Wallace, Ida Cox, Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters and them). Whitefang Good list there, Dtown Boy, but , uh, Ethel Waters ? ---------------------------------------------------------- Who's next ? d=halfnote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitefang Posted March 16, 2017 Share Posted March 16, 2017 Yes! ETHEL WATERS. She was a premier blues singer far back as the 1920's, and often sang at Harlem's COTTON CLUB. And incidentally.... SHE was the FIRST gal to record "Stormy Weather" back in '33. You're probably thinking she started out in movies, but that came a few years later in her life, but only a couple of years before "Stormy Weather" ( "On With The Show"--'29...she sang "Am I Blue?") . And she was good at THAT too! Whitefang I started out with NOTHING...and I still have most of it left! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocPate Posted March 16, 2017 Share Posted March 16, 2017 What I read in these responses tells me "blues" are defined in many ways. And it's so IMHO. Sure, there are some great "Country Music" Blues. Hank Williams was a master of such again IMO. Then there's the pre-war blues by the old Delta and Chicago blues artists. Some say this morphed into Jazz, others say the two grew along parallel time-lines. Then you have the post-war blues that morphed into Rhythm and Blues which then morphed into Rock and Roll, R&B, Soul, Folk. So with these definitions in mind, it's tough to say we didn't meet the blues somewhere along the line. But this is a great subject for debate I personally believe. I enjoy greatly the comments. Keep em comin' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitefang Posted March 16, 2017 Share Posted March 16, 2017 Funny you brought up Hank Williams. Or country music in general. B.B. King once said to someone he liked some particular coutry tune at the time. His friends chided him for it, but B.B. responded, "All that country music IS could just be called "white boy" blues." WIKIFY "Move It On Over" and the first line reads: "Move It On Over" is a 12-bar blues song written and recorded by the American country music singer-songwriter Hank Williams in 1947. Whitefang I started out with NOTHING...and I still have most of it left! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertbluesman Posted March 16, 2017 Share Posted March 16, 2017 I used to really like Mississippi John Hurt a bunch. I bought his albums which is the highest compliment I can give any musician. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_John_Hurt dbm If it sounds good, it is good !! http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=143231&content=music Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbqbob Posted March 17, 2017 Share Posted March 17, 2017 My first exposure to the blues was in high school via my sophomore English teacher. He loaned me a few records, "Fathers and Sons" (Muddy Waters and Otis Span with Mike Bloomfield and Paul Butterfield), a Brownie Mcghee and Sonny Terry album and a compilation record with such bluesmen as Big Bill Broonzy and Skip James. Some pretty deep blues stuff and some of it quite crudely recorded. For some reason it struck a chord with me and I have been a blues fan ever since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitefang Posted March 17, 2017 Share Posted March 17, 2017 Yeah, it's like I said... It's hard to fathom the reasons why some LIKE blues and others just LOVE it and yet others aren't as enamored. And also I know some who just like a few newer artists and others who don't like anything NEWER than old Josh White and Willie Brown recordings. Whitefang I started out with NOTHING...and I still have most of it left! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocPate Posted March 17, 2017 Share Posted March 17, 2017 As a guitar picker, I enjoyed the various tunings used by the older blues artists. Skip James used "Bentonia" tuning - Open Dmnor. (DADFAD). Robert Johnson played in Open D (DADF#AD) and Open G (D-G-D-G-B-D). He was also the first to introduce me to Drop D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitefang Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 I picked up "drop D" from folk artists. Who probably picked it up from old bluesmen. So I got it indirectly The first "drop D" blues type tune I worked at learning was an old Blind Lemon tune, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" from Dylan's first album. And both Dylan's "Ballad Of Hollis Brown" and my fave "It's Alright Ma(I'm Only Bleeding)" are played in "drop D" Whitefang I started out with NOTHING...and I still have most of it left! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picker Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 I recall listening to the Jerry Lee Lewis "Great Balls Of Fire" 78 on a little red record player when I was 3 or 4. I'd say that was the first time I got really bitten by then blues bug. Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A String Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 When did I meet the blues? About a week ago. We were both shopping in the same supermarket and we both reached for the same sprig of parsley. Our hands briefly touched and it was magic. ...or...the first thing I heard was when my parents popped headphones onto my head and put on a Led Zep record. While not "authentic" I know, the first blues tune I heard was "Since I've Been Lovin' You". That sprig of parsley has never looked the same since. Craig Stringnetwork on Facebook String Network Forum My Music Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocPate Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 Now this is blues - from Big Bill Morganfield youngest son of the immortal Muddy Waters. Muddy Waters has two sons carrying on the tradition of great blues. Mud Morganfield is the older son. Check out his biography, etc. http://www.mudmorganfieldblues.com/ and check out this video: ====================================================================================== Not to be overlooked,"Mud" Morganfield and "Big" Bill Morganfield, the younger son is also a great blues musician. I love the Telecaster intro to the video below: http://www.bigbillmorganfield.org/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d halfnote Posted March 18, 2017 Author Share Posted March 18, 2017 WFang, y've told me (us?) more abt yer actual musical bg here than I've learned from all my time here. Craig, I know ya got deeper roots than that....don't make me drop the "Dreams" bomb onya. Doc, I've never been an explorer of alt tunings but besides the open minor set-ups you mention we could add Albert Collins who used something like F#m, though he altered it further by often capoing up the neck. d=halfnote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bottom End Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 You have to give David Bromberg his due, he knows the blues: [video:youtube] and he's paid his dues: [video:youtube] But he can play the blues, no doubt [video:youtube] "Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, yet you cannot play upon me.'-Hamlet Guitar solos last 30 seconds, the bass line lasts for the whole song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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