Not everyone is a blues fan. Like many great things in Western civilization, real authentic blues is an acquired taste, and not everyone acquires it.
Yet I am a blues fan. A true blues fan. I can tell you things about this quintessentically American form of music that most people don't know. I know who Blind Lemon Jefferson was, who Sonny Boy Williamson I and II were. I know what it means when the Eagle flies, and what a mojo really is. I know what makes Muddy Waters and Bo Diddley great. I will tell you all this at length, if you've got the patience to listen--and most of you probably don't.
I honestly believe that those of us who are serious blues fans do not hear the blues as music. We hear it like a language, process it like a language, understand it like a language. Do you know what I'm talking about? Well, not to sound elitist but, you either do or you don't, and I can't explain it either way.
But let me tell ya: I have my nomination for the single greatest blues track every laid down. Want to know what it is?
I say it's Boogie Chillen #2 by Hooker 'n Heat.
Anyone want to gainsay me?
Hmmmm... I think I'm related to Blind Lemon (not to be confused with Blind Melon).
I did post more on B.B. King on my blog. (Damnit, I just trolled again. Sorry.)
I believe there's a tie:
Performance Information
Muddy Waters
Got My Mojo Workin' (Fathers & Sons 1969 / Part 2 Live)
Recorded live at Super Cosmic Joy Scout Jamboree; included on album "Fathers & Sons."
Session Information
Date: Wednesday, April 24, 1968
City: Chicago State: IL Country: USA
Original Record Label: Chess
Session Players
Muddy Waters Guitar; vocal
Michael Bloomfield Guitar
Paul Butterfield Harmonica
Donald "Duck" Dunn Bass
Buddy Miles Drums
Replaced Sam Lay on drums for Part 2
Otis Spann Piano
Copyright 2003 BluesPlus Productions, Inc.
Future Blues by Willie Brown
oh... i gotta put in a vote for my all-time favorite blues performer, howlin' wolf. "built for comfort" -
Howlin' Wolf (1968), on the LP "The Howlin' Wolf Album" (Cadet Concept LPS 319, 1969)
when the wolf howled.............!
I'm not going to disagree with you so much as offer my own opinion. Mississippi John Hurt recorded "Spike Driver Blues" and that is probably my favorite of all time. For something a little more recent, Chris Whitley's "Ballpeen Hammer" is freakin' amazing, if not even close to the greatest of all time.
For a female voice, Koko Taylor's "That's Why I'm Crying" sends chills up and down my spine.
Ooo, and how about "When Things Go Wrong With You?" by Tampa Red? Clapton covered it as "It Hurts Me Too" on From the Cradle, but Tampa Red's version was perfect (even if there is a kazoo involved).
My point being, I doubt that there is a way to say that one song is the best blues track ever laid down. Too many styles, too many voices, too much brilliant music for me to ever say that one song was the best.
Yes, that's an interesting point, what a mojo really is. Sometimes also known as a "conjure hand." And only a woman may carry a "nation sack."
You hear the blues like a language? Hmmmm... Jack Kerouac heard jazz the same way, and his use of language-- his whole astonishing, blazing, noneuclidean writing style-- was strongly influenced by way he "heard" jazz.
(Standard disclaimer: I myself am about as musical as a fence post. :)
Dunno about the best, but Key to the Highway, by Derek and the Dominoes, is probably my favorite.
I live in Monterey and every summer the neighboring city of Seaside has a "Sunday Blues in the Park" program. I've never been a big Blues fan, but these performances have all been wonderful.
The one that impressed me the most was a group of teenagers from a youth music program in Carmel. It was fantastic to see the kids playing music for a popular local Blues singer -- who had to be 50 years older than them!
The guy would stop in the middle of his song and say "Can you believe these kids are only 14 years old?" And, no, I couldn't!
You like the blues? Well then you'll LOVE Blueshammer!
Muddy Waters, Mannish Boy on Hard Again (with Johnny Winters singing backup)
Best white-boy blues: SRV, damn near anything...
I will find and listen to Eric the Mod's version of It Hurts Me Too, but I would be very surprised if it is anywhere near as good as the Grateful Dead's version on Europe 72. Note that the Dead's version should best be judged for itself, and not as a blues track.
I don't think there is such a thing as a Single Greatest Blues Track Ever Laid Down given how different the contenders are. Lady Day - God Bless the Child. Willie Hugh Nelson - Night Life. Snooky Pryor - Diggin' My Potatoes.
Oh, quite honestly, that was only the "best blues track every laid down" that I happened to be listening to when I wrote that. ;-)
But Scott:
Muddy Waters, Mannish Boy on Hard Again
Sir, you must--you simply must--immediately purchase a copy of Muddy 'Mississippi' Waters Live. This was recorded with the same basic band lineup as on Hard Again, including Pinetop Perkins, James Cotton, Jerry Portnoy, and Johnny Winters.
To me it's the definitive cut of Mannish Boy, and absolutely everything else on the disc smokes, but especially Baby Please Don't Go and She's Nineteen Years Old. I simply won't be happy until I know this is in your collection.
Oh man, now I have to go find my copy and spin it again.
Oh, and speaking of Stevie Ray? I have everything he ever recorded, but one of the best blues albums ever recorded was In Session, a live in-studio album that he recorded with Albert King.
Go out of your way to pick this one. Way out of your way.
Un-freakin'-believable.
For all you blues fans out there -I'd recommend you check out "Living Blues" magazine published from the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at Old Miss. I think Borders and Barnes&Noble both carry this wonderful blues magazine.
Actually, the SRV/Albert King album is available as a download at emusic.com .
I'll get right on both of those. I'd never heard of the In Session project, embarassingly enough.
BTW: Today is the anniversary of the death of SRV. Man, I just get sick thinking of what never happened since he left us.
Best all-around blues song: "Little Red Rooster" by Willie Dixon and covered by several others. Best original blues song by a bunch of Englishmen: "Fancy Man Blues" by the Rolling Stones.
My favorite all-around blues song is "Mustang Sally." Which is a hard song to screw up.