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Post by PistolPete on Sept 26, 2022 8:45:22 GMT
I'm on the hunt for some new listening material, so I'd like to know what blues long players acoustic soundboard members most enjoy? Feel free to include anything as ancient, or modern as you want, and I'm happy for you to make the definitions of "blues" and "acoustic" as broad as you like too
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Post by borborygmus on Sept 26, 2022 10:01:17 GMT
Rather than get into the old guys (although absolutely no harm in that!), what about Blues & Ballads (A Folksinger’s Songbook) Volumes I & II by Luther Dickinson? Luther is the son of legendary Jim Dickinson, and leader of the rather good North Mississippi Allstars.
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Post by curmudgeon on Sept 26, 2022 10:53:14 GMT
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Post by delb0y on Sept 26, 2022 15:53:09 GMT
I'm not big on blues, and acoustically I tend to go old - Blind Boy Fuller, Blind Willie McTell, Mississippi John Hurt, and Blind Blake are all regulars in the car. I have a great album "After Hours" by Ben Andrews, who is sadly no longer with us. But for the purposes of this thread I'd like to shout out three amazing albums by one amazing player / singer - Jim Crawford. Take a listen to Blues Boy, Roots and Originals, or When The Rains Came. Jim comes from Devon, these days at least, and is a lovely guy and a keen angler (clearly, this is critical when it comes to playing the blues). There are loads of very bluesy clips on YT, but here's one of his originals:
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Post by lavaman on Sept 26, 2022 16:19:38 GMT
This could be a very long list. Here's a few off the top of my head.
+1 for any of Jim Crawfords cds.
Muddy Water's Folk Singer is brilliant. Don't be put off by the title there's no folk on it.
IMO, "The Essential Country Blues Guitar Collection Volumes 1 to 4" is the best introduction to acoustic blues. Compiled by Woody Mann. 80+ songs from many different artists.
Martin Grosswendt - "Call & Response" and "Payday" showcase excellent playing and singing
Mary Flower - "Ladyfingers" and "Misery Loves Company"
Snooks Eaglin - "Country Boy in New Orleans"
Steve James & Del Ray - "Tonight" Mississippi John Hurt - anything really
Ali Farke Toure for African influences
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Post by earwighoney on Sept 26, 2022 17:43:11 GMT
This could be a very long list. Here's a few off the top of my head. +1 for any of Jim Crawfords cds. Muddy Water's Folk Singer is brilliant. Don't be put off by the title there's no folk on it. IMO, "The Essential Country Blues Guitar Collection Volumes 1 to 4" is the best introduction to acoustic blues. Compiled by Woody Mann. 80+ songs from many different artists. Martin Grosswendt - "Call & Response" and "Payday" showcase excellent playing and singing Mary Flower - "Ladyfingers" and "Misery Loves Company" Snooks Eaglin - "Country Boy in New Orleans" Steve James & Del Ray - "Tonight" Mississippi John Hurt - anything really Ali Farke Toure for African influences
I will check out some of those, looks like a good list.
I love Mississippi John Hurt.
Any excuse to post this
I'm a big fan of the old classics, eg Leadbelly, Son House, Reverend Gary Davis. I'm not sure John Fahey is what many might have in mind, he seems to do his own thing, but I love his music a lot.
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Welshruss
C.O.G.
Posts: 477
My main instrument is: Turnstone, Wandering Boy & Santa Cruz
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Post by Welshruss on Sept 26, 2022 21:36:41 GMT
Great thread. Here’s a few more;
I’d add every album by Kelly Joe Phelps, especially Lead Me On and Shine Eyed Mr Zen. 1922 and When the Devil Goes Blind by Charlie Parr ( he has a great back catalogue to discover] Turning of the Clocks by Shaun Cromwell. First Recordings by RL Burnside
I agree on Folk Singer by Muddy Walters and anything by Mississippi John Hurt.
Another obscure release I have on vinyl is I am the Black Ace by Black Ace who was a lapslide National player.
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Post by martinrowe on Sept 26, 2022 22:46:20 GMT
Trying to think of some you may not have come across You could try Frank Frost: Frank FrostI could listen to it all day - classy harmonica player. I seem to remember Paul Jones saying something like 'I know Every note' when interviewing someone on his radio show and this LP was mentioned. There's a late Scrapper Blackwell LP on youtube that's a bit samey and seems to get overlooked. Scrapper BlackwellTuba Skinny do great covers of Memphis Minnie and the Mississippi Shieks Me and My ChauffeurCourse there's always the Stones first LP or Exile on Main Street Stones first LP
The list is endless really isn't it. Sleepy John Estes and Hammie Nixon haven't been mentioned.
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Post by Matt Milton on Sept 27, 2022 12:49:12 GMT
God, where to start... I'm sure you'll probably know all these already. Hard to list specific albums though as there are so many compilations and post-copyright-expiry bootlegs. Have to have Skip James in there. I prefer his 'rediscovery' albums, with his voice much more upfront and intimate. There's an album called 'Hard Time Killing Floor Blues' that I listened to a lot Have to have Mississippi John Hurt in there. The '1928 Sessions' album. But I also love bits'n'bobs of the many Library of Congress albums from near the end of his life - which is basically a huge sprawling recording of everything he could remember to record for posterity. Some of the most calming music ever. Archie Edwards - 'Blues N Bones'. A beautifully recorded album. Very much in the Mississippi John Hurt vein, but a generation younger. Recorded in the late 80s (or maybe early 90s) when Archie must have been in his 60s I'd guess. If you like Hurt or Elizabeth Cotten, you'll love it. Mance Lipscomb - Trouble in Mind. Kind of more of the same really! Laidback, folky blues John Dee Holeman - 'Bull Durham Blues'. Another super relaxing, super intimate recording (one for audiophiles to test speakers on). His voice is like treacle. Mellow acoustic boogie. johndeeholeman.bandcamp.com/album/bull-durham-bluesRev Gary Davis. Either 'The Rev Blind Gary Davis 1935-1959' for the old stuff, or 'At Home and Church, 1962-67' for the late period. Confession: I have mixed feelings about the Rev's singing - I really don't like it when he's in his loud shouty mode. Charley Jordan Vol 1 (on Document Records). Something about Charley Jordan's voice and guitar playing that is totally unique in blues. Can't explain it. Could be that he often sounds so 'major key' rather than bluesy. In an odd way it calls to mind African highlife music at times or something. A bit. More recent: Duke Garwood's album 'The Sand That Falls' from 2006 is a stoner-blues album from south London. Mr David Viner's albums 'This Boy Don't Care' and 'Mr David Viner' from the early 2000s are also great (though not all acoustic, a bit 60s R&B in places)
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leoroberts
C.O.G.
Posts: 24,665
My main instrument is: probably needing new strings
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Post by leoroberts on Sept 27, 2022 13:38:12 GMT
For something/someone more contemporary, have a listen to Ben Smith - Live At The Ent Shed
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Post by scorpiodog on Sept 28, 2022 10:57:46 GMT
I rather like "Live in The Living Room" by Philip Henry - Amazing beat box harmonica version of "Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning".
Talking of beat box harmonica, while it's not strictly blues but is very bluesy - anything by Son of Dave. I like the "Shake A Bone" album particularly.
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Post by peterh on Sept 29, 2022 9:16:58 GMT
Hello All, lots of good ideas...
Here's another, contempory one: the Hereford and Reading based folkie, Mark T, on the Circle of Sound label,
"From Blues to Rembetika" with a few guests , and some of his own stuff. Lots of slide, and few were recorded at
the London Troubadour.
See yer
Peter
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colins
Luthier / Guitar Maker
Posts: 2,325
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Post by colins on Sept 29, 2022 11:40:49 GMT
Some truly great suggestions given above, but no mention (that I have seen) of the seminal acoustic blues musician.
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Post by delb0y on Sept 29, 2022 17:23:12 GMT
Yes, that's an absolute classic. I've been listening to a lot of Robert Johnson, recently, and the more I listen the more impressed I am. I didn't always feel this way, but these days, I think he deserves all the platitudes he gets.
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Post by martinrowe on Sept 29, 2022 18:34:26 GMT
Yes, I know, for me it's the intricacy - oh, and all the other elements. I wonder how he got so good - talent and practice probably
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