Best blues guitarist, Clapton or Green

BUDDY GUY.....PERIOD.

Mrmom; You've been lucky to see all those Blues cats. I have CDs of all of them and agree that they're all "right at the top". Yes, Luther Allison "smokes". I really agree with all the above posts, and blues is where it's at. Good thread Cody-- hope it keeps going. In the young "up and coming" category, I like Sue Foley, Shannon Curfman, Susan Tedeschi-- none of these are too polished or jaded to be "uninteresting", ie they are fresh, raw, and enthusiastic-- and of course Johnny Lang. Also glad to see women getting more exposure (bad choice of words?) in blues. Joanna Conner plays a "wicked" slide guitar, IMHO. Cheers. Craig.

Not to bash Clapton or Green, they are both great song writers and guitarists.But they are not the genuine article(Clapton realy wishes he was). Any cubs around to catch live? Even some of the little known acts cook. Saw SRV in a small hall, he was the best rock/blues around since Hendrix. You later entries are on the right track, my all time favorite was the late great Albert King. Check out the blues section at your local stores, even vinyl. I found some great blues vidios, tributes with all-star perfomances.I love all kinds of music, but when it comes to blues nothing beats the real thing.

For you folks looking for a great blues-rock guitar player try Walter Trout(Walter Trout and the free Radicals). His latest CD is Live at the 2000 Tampa Bay Blues Festival. It's a double CD for the price of one. Once you listen to it you can't stop listening!! He is rated as the 6th best guitar player in the world, living or dead!!

A little elaboration on my Melvin Taylor post above. Used to spend a bit of time in Chicago before my kids were born and have been fortunate enough to see live: Buddy Guy, Albert Collins, Luther Allison and some other big names. Have heard just about everyone mentioned in this post with the exception of Jimmy Thackery-haven't heard his stuff. What I can tell you is that if you polled 50 blues guitarists in Chicago (no disrespect to Texans, but when it comes to blues guitar, I think Chicago is the spot) about who is the best, Melvin would probably be at the top of the list. He has great diversity in style (something I would not say about Buddy Guy), incredible technique and his playing is truly musical (something that cannot be said about many guys that can just play "fast"). His music also packs a real emotional wallop-all in all he's the total guitar package, although not a great singer. CD does not do him total justice; if you're in Chicago check out a live performance at Rosa's on West Armitage close to the United Centre-he's not flashy on stage or showy the way Buddy is, and most of the crowd are musicians watching his hands in total disbelief. His new release that I mentioned above is quite good with guest appearances by Eric Gales and Sugar Blue-I'd be curious to hear what you guys thought of it. In my opinion, Melvin is simply in another league.