Blues for Aficionados

Bobby Bland

TURN ON YOUR LOVE LIGHT: THE DUKE RECORDINGS VOL 2

Duke / MCA   1994

Notes: Welcome to the golden age of the ageless Bobby "Blue" Bland.  Long an icon in blues and proto-soul circles, the man really hit his stride in the early 1960's when, as a thirty-something veteran of the Memphis scene, he forged a new frontier for the full-throated, mostly mid-tempo stylings.  To this day, it's a sound that sets the standard for emotive vocal music.  In a field dominated by pimply teens and rubber-legged showoffs, the mature confidence exuded by Bobby is refreshing in itself."

LOL.   Let the culture war begin.

Turn On Your Love Light
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gszjF-OxJho

Stormy Monday Blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAWzczucDVs

Saint James Infirmary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJoNAAWIprE

Yield Not To Temptation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-RoP05BdC4

Ain't That lovin' you
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSVC9oajnFs

cheers

Anson Funderburgh "Talk to You by Hand"
1981/Black Top Records

Absolutely wonderful.

Nice.   Speaking of Harmonica, you can't have too much harmonica in the Blues.

Heritage Blues Orchestra:   Catfish Blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ov0-XmddxA

Cheers

Steve Phillips "Steel-Rail Blues"
Unamerican Activities/1989/EU

If you aren't adverse to CD's, try to find a copy of Up The Line by The Gary Smith Blues Band. Gary is very well known in the San Francisco Bay Area Blues scene, and has the best harp tone I've ever heard, bar none. His mentor was Charlie Mussellwhite, and Gary's role model is The Master---Little Walter. Gary is the first harp player I played with, way back in 1969! He had just switched from drums, so we had that in common. 

Gary's Facebook posts are usually about the latest tubes he has tried in his tube amps. He is VERY serious about the tone he creates, the mark of a superior musician (along with phrasing, and musicality).

The album also features great musical accompaniment from the best Blues players in the Bay Area (known locally as the Blues Mafia ;-). I've seen and heard him and they live, and if you live in the area, so should you.