Buddy and B.B.

I Can't Quit You Baby.....It's the name of the blog, but why? When I hear this song, any version, any artist, it just rings in my ears like no other song can. I'm not saying it's my favorite, or that it is the best blues written. But it's so simple and the lyrics are simply perfect. It says a million lifetimes worth of grief and love in 16 words. "I can't quite you baby, so I think I gotta put you down for a while." This version is perhaps my favorite version of the tune.

Featuring two of the greatest guitarists to ever grace this earth, Buddy Guy and B.B. King, the song is about as electrifying as you can get. I don't exactly know how to explain it, but something about those words, those faces, and those guitar licks just make me close my eyes and sway my head for 3 minutes straight. I don't think there are a lot of things in this world that can distract us for that long without interruption; take this opportunity to let that happen, watch, listen, and groove.



Buddy Guy is one of my favorite artists, and I have a number of his albums that I will share later, but for now, just check him and B.B. out, rockin' that place down.

Saxophone Bluesin'

So Today I wanted to post a type of blues that gets a little less attention than I think it should. I played the saxophone in high school, and as much as I regret it, I have since fallen off the wagon and not touched the thing in years. Hopefully my hands will someday find their way back to it, but listening to a little Eddie "Cleanhead"Vinson in the meantime won't hurt, anyways.

Play it Cleanhead!

Eddie gets his nickname "Cleanhead" after a hair strengthening product containing too much lye accidentally destroyed all of his hair. His blues are a contrast to the usual Chicago blues I have featured. He is Texan, and his style more closely resembles other Texans; Stevie Ray Vaughn, T-Bone, and other greats. He has also toured and performed extensively with Jazz greats, including Count Basie. Today I have his number, "Juice Head Baby," a sweet song about dealing with the fact that your baby is an alcoholic.




Cherry Red

Let me Holler at ya!

Ok, so today is not a blues album day. While the band involved is The Black Keys, whom I consider to be a wonderful comtemporary blues-rock band, the album is Blakroc, a collaboration of The Keys and several big name hip hoppers.

This is the sickest picture in existence.

The collaboration occurred after Damon Dash started listening to the keys and they became one of this favorite bands. The album features the Akron-based Black Keys with Mos Def, Ludacris, Pharoahe Monch, RZA, Raekwon, ODB, Jim Jones, Q-Tip, and several others. It's a cool joint, and I recommend you give it a listen, whether or not you like hip-hop. I don't think this is the best song on the album, but Mos Def is an awesome guy, and so I wanted to post it and let you know he's awesome, I give you "On the Vista," by Blakroc featuring Mos Def:



This shit is fire!

Dan Auerbach

So today I have something in a little different direction for y'ins. Many of you, I'm sure, are familiar with the Black Keys, and how awesome they are. Today I feature the solo recordings of Dan Auerbach, the Guitarist and vocalist for the Keys. His album isn't necessarily as bluesy as the band's stuff, but I really dig it, especially the two songs I have for you. I'm sure the Black Keys will be posted at some point, as I think they make some great contemporary blues-rock, but today is all about Mr. Auerbach, and just how badass one man can be.

What a rockin' Mo Fo.

Auerbach is from Akron, Ohio, and for a dude from such an odd place he knows how to rock. He's been in a number of bands, starting with a group known as the Barnburners, then moving through a couple other small groups before hitting his stride with the Black Keys. I have two songs for you to sample, and then an album for you to download. Check it out, it is a really nice album, and a lot of the stuff is reminiscent of the Keys.

First is a tune called "Mean Monsoon," a song which I love, probably my favorite from the album:



And next is "I Want Some More," something a little more bluesy and a lot more rockin':



And finally, Keep It Hid

Harp Attack!

Here he is, killin' it.

So lately I've been very into Harmonica Blues. I posted Paul Butterfield some time ago, and Howlin' Wolf played a mean harp, too. Well today is no exception. Today I am featuring Little Walter, a wonderful and quite accessible (in terms of how easy he is to listen to) musician. Little Walter has been compared to Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix in terms of his influence on later generations to play the insutrment, and is the only person to ever be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for being such a virtuoso on the harmonica.

He is another Chi-town blues man, and was active from the 40s to the 60s. He is considered to be monumentally important in the development of the huge harmonica blues volumes that exist today. Credited with shaping much of the style of today's blues harpsmen.

Without further adieu, here is Little Walter's "Mean Old World"

Paul Butterfield Blues Band

These boys, hailing from Chi-town, are a great late 20th century blues band. I really dig there gritty, intense sound. I have a lot of their music to sort through, a whole 2 disc set, but I am looking forward to spending some time doing homework and rockin' out to some good old Chicago blues. Paul's band was known as one of the best blues ensembles around, and several of the musicians are featured on other great recordings.

As for Butterfield himself, he is considered a fantastic harp player, even though his style was quite unorthodox. He used to hold his Harmonica upside down. Well, I can't think of much more to tell you, but the music speaks loud enough.


An Anthology Disc 1

An Anthology Disc 2

Talkin Blues

Today we have a real innovator. John Lee Hooker, while considered a true master Mississippi bluesman, also is credited with starting the genre known as "talking blues." It is metrically free and is mostly driven by a heavy rhythm and Hookers great guitar. He is probably most famous for "Boom Boom Boom," and most of you have probably heard that tune at some point. Today I give you an album which is a little different than you might expect, the song featured is "Cuttin' Out" which features Canned Heat, a wonderful psychadelic blues band, that we may hear from again.



Apparently my computer had some issues and the album didn't upload for download, but I will upload it tonight, and I do have a great one for you to download:


John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers

Howlin Wolf.

So some of you may know who Howlin' Wolf is, some of you may not, but either way I don't think anyone could deny that he is a creepy and scary dude. He has, at least in my opinion, the most intense voice in the blues. He growls and snarls and every time he says something it sounds like he might come kill me afterwards. But, even though I start to tremble every time I put some on, his sound is unique and his blues passionate. While researching Wolf I actually found this exact thing:

"musician and critic Cub Koda declared, "no one could match Howlin' Wolf for the singular ability to rock the house down to the foundation while simultaneously scaring its patrons out of its wits.""

I'm not lying man, the dude was scary. But in addition Sam Phillips once remarked, "When I heard Howlin' Wolf, I said, 'This is for me. This is where the soul of man never dies."  For your first listen, or your next, I will post this youtube video for you, I love his explanation of the blues, and I love his style; shirt, tie, glasses, rock the house down. I just wish there were some artists out there today with this type of character.




I have one album from Wolf and Muddy Waters, and some other day I'll post a little something from it, then give you the album to download. But for now, just get into his sound, and see what the craze is about.

White dudes make good Blues.

So unfortunately today I am getting around a little late. So I am just going to have a quick post with one song, and then tonight I will upload the album and have a little more to say. This is a song by John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, and it is short, but for some reason I really dig it.

John Mayall is great, and the Bluesbreakers were home to a huge number of great musicians, probably most notably Eric Clapton, who played with them on occasion from 1965 into 1966. Sorry I don't have more for now, but give this a listen and check back later for something more substantial!

McKinley Morganfield

Or as he is more well known, Muddy Waters. Today I pay homage to one of the blues world's masters. Muddy Waters was born in Mississippi, but his real contributions lie in the electrification of Chicago Blues. Much like Duke Ellington, his real gift was not necessarily playing the blues, but keeping his band stocked with some of the best up and coming blues artists. Musicians like Sonny Boy Williamson, Lil' Walter, Freddie Green, Otis Spann, all played for and with him at some point. He had the most impressive ear for talent this world may have ever seen.

Muddy has a number of smash hits; "I got my Mojo Workin'", "I'm your Hoocie Coochie Man"(Written by Willie Dixon), and "Baby Please Don't Go." But for today I would like to post "Long Distance Call" One of my absolute favorite Muddy tunes.





Please take your time and listen to this, it is incredible. Don't put it on and casually listen while you do something else; sit down, close your eyes, and hear what Muddy Waters can do with that guitar. If you're interested in Blues History, Muddy is a good place to start for modern blues. His impact is immeasurable, and his story is fun and unique.

Just look at that man. He oozes cool, check out some live performances by him on Youtube, he is just amazing. No recording or even live album can compare to seeing him play. Seeing the emotion and passion he puts into each song, even if he's played it 50 times.


And for those of you who'd like a little more, here you are:

The Essential Muddy Waters

Good Time Blues

Sometimes I worry that everyone thinks all blues is so sad they don't even want to try to like it. But one should never forget that, in fact, a lot of blues is very funny. And the most comical always has to do with the same thing: sex. Today we have Willie Dixon and Memphis Slim(Piano) performing "Built For Comfort:"

This song is quite fitting for Willie, being about 6' 5'' and above 250lbs, he was a big man to say the least. Willie is not only a great blues bassist and vocalist, he was one of the most prolific songwriters in Blues History, and was integral in the creation of Chicago Blues. Willie has a number of great songs, one of my favorite is "Sittin' and Cryin' the Blues," but with a bunch of studying this weekend and a couple tests this week, I needed a fun, easy pick-me-up this morning, and here it was. I don't think I need to say much more about Willie, as I'm sure we'll revisit him in the future. So for now, just enjoy!

Download the album here!!

Morning Blues

We all get them, you just wake up in a funk. Not feeling good, worried about the day, or maybe don't even know what the problem is. Today's song is just about that, waking up and feeling blue even before the sun comes up. For anyone looking for real blues, down home, delta style, this is it. I give you Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell performing "Blues before sunrise"



These two are responsible for some of the most important blues numbers around. Probably most famously, How Long Blues, one of my personal favorite tunes. This album is a compilation of songs they recorded between 1928-1935, so this is the hard stuff. The quality isn't perfect, but it doesn't need to be, the performances are plenty electrifying to make you forget all about the buzz and scratch. For those of you who like the one song, here is the whole album, for free download. Just click the link and then click begin download now or whatever on the right side.

Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell- How Long Blues (1928-1935)

Tracks from My Collection

As my collection builds, and I find new and exciting music, I will post stuff from my own library.When I feel it's appropriate, I will link to the albums on a file-hosting site for free download. Just a heads up!

Jazz or Blues?

I said this blog was about blues, but a lot of people would prefer to put this song in the jazz category. So which is it? It's both, blues and jazz are both hard to quantify and categorize, and I think one ought not try. They have influenced each other in uncountable ways, and if you take away one, the other would inevitably suffer.

Today I have chosen perhaps my favorite song, from one of my all-time favorite blues and jazz artists. Billie Holiday will always be one of the finest female vocalists, even with a range just wider than one octave. This video features not only Billie, but many other of my favorites. The first saxophonist is Ben Webster, followed by Lester Young*. Next comes Vic Dickinson on the trombone, followed by an artist very dear to my heart, Bari Saxist Gerry Mulligan; for a white guy, the dude can swing (maybe there's hope for me, yet). Then Coleman Hawkins and Roy Eldridge (screech Trumpet) round out the piece in all it's glory. For those of you who don't know much about jazz and blues, this is an incredible line-up. Imagine all of the best contemporary indie rockers doing one song on TV with an amazing vocalist like Billie. Each was at the top of their respective game for some time. Either way, I hope you listen to the whole piece, it is 8 minutes of heaven. Enjoy!

* I want to mention that Lester and Billie were very, very close friends. She called him The Prez, and of course to him she was Lady Day. They remained close until the day he died, although they were never lovers.

White people like Blues.

Just wait, you'll see. They clap and smile and even tap their feet. It might look funny, but blues men like Otis here loved it. Imagine, for the first time you're not playing to a hooting, drunk, dancing crowd. Just a bunch of white folks sitting around listening to what you've got.
This is a scene from the American Folk Blues festival DVD (although I'm not sure which years), and if you've never seen it, I suggest you hit up your local library and see if they have a copy; if not, just youtube it. This is actually a German documentary, and for years great Blues men and women toured Europe, loving the quite crowds they were able to play for.

This is my attempt at sharing blues with you. I will do my best to keep my selection fresh and frequent. If I fall behind I apologize, but sometimes Math. is a bitch and won't let me do fun things.