Blues 2019: the new golden era

Lewy

sweepy said:

Worth checking out too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnIe59uLnCQ&index=27&list=RDGQeLtCbwJts

That was great! It's really refreshing to see someone ripping and NOT busting out bebop lines all over the place for a change

Mark1960

Lewy said:

RandallFlagg said:

heavyrocker said:

There are some outstanding players around nowadays. Where they are lacking imo is on the songwriting front. None of them has written anything that’s even approaching the same league as Clapton in his heyday.

Agreed, I hear some great guitar playing but cringe at some of the lyrics and songs, even the lack of imagination with melody. Where are the rest songs? I think of Peter Green, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, great guitar with some great original songwriting at times too.

I think this is a bit of a scourge across the new generation of roots musicians as a whole whether it's blues, bluegrass, folk, whatever...the standard of instrumental chops is through the roof but the standard of lyric writing is at times comically bad, and generally poor. I do sometimes wonder if it's down to the fact that when you see the latest crop of next-big-things a lot of them are highly schooled conservatoire grads operating in the roots realm, as opposed to people who've come up living and breathing it. But I also wonder if the channels by which they get exposure...especially instagram...render things like thoughtful lyrics a bit of an irrelevance....ok, got my killer guitar part, the drummer is in a good lighting situation...right, where did I leave my rhyming dictionary?

I agree with all of the above, but also think there is a finite number of ways of saying the same things which people sing about - Heartbreak / Joy / loneliness / Fast car / New woman! It must be incredibly difficult to write new lyrics which are actually new? I have zero talent in that area, so am not speaking from experience, but it must be hard to get original thoughts that have not been expressed before.

RandallFlagg

Mark1960 said:

Lewy said:

RandallFlagg said:

heavyrocker said:

There are some outstanding players around nowadays. Where they are lacking imo is on the songwriting front. None of them has written anything that’s even approaching the same league as Clapton in his heyday.

Agreed, I hear some great guitar playing but cringe at some of the lyrics and songs, even the lack of imagination with melody. Where are the rest songs? I think of Peter Green, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, great guitar with some great original songwriting at times too.

I think this is a bit of a scourge across the new generation of roots musicians as a whole whether it's blues, bluegrass, folk, whatever...the standard of instrumental chops is through the roof but the standard of lyric writing is at times comically bad, and generally poor. I do sometimes wonder if it's down to the fact that when you see the latest crop of next-big-things a lot of them are highly schooled conservatoire grads operating in the roots realm, as opposed to people who've come up living and breathing it. But I also wonder if the channels by which they get exposure...especially instagram...render things like thoughtful lyrics a bit of an irrelevance....ok, got my killer guitar part, the drummer is in a good lighting situation...right, where did I leave my rhyming dictionary?

I agree with all of the above, but also think there is a finite number of ways of saying the same things which people sing about - Heartbreak / Joy / loneliness / Fast car / New woman! It must be incredibly difficult to write new lyrics which are actually new? I have zero talent in that area, so am not speaking from experience, but it must be hard to get original thoughts that have not been expressed before.

I don't agree! See The Beautiful South and Paul Heaton's take on the traditional love song "Song for whoever" and many of his songs about relationships. See Elvis Costello and his many hops across genres. It can be done but you have to think song first, guitar second. 

JezWynd

It's hard to write a blues in an age when you're expected to ask permission to touch another person, let alone get down and dirty with them. I see more of an opening for a return to the courtly love songs of the middle ages. Better work on those lute chops. Greensleeves anyone?

Th4fonz

It seems a Tele playing the blues is trend these days also

AlexC

Dan Patalansky is worth checking out too. South African by birth. Great singer as well. Greats a really dirty thick strat tone.

EricTheWeary

I dip into the modern blues widdlers and the songs are sometimes shocking. It doesn't have to be all 12 bars so there's scope for writing something else - like Gary Clark Jr or Fantastic Negrito. Walter Trout and Eric Gales are attempting to write something of interest and still have the extended solos.
There should be a voice, there should be something to say, ideally an understanding of the conversational nature of blues. 

Lewy

JezWynd said:

It's hard to write a blues in an age when you're expected to ask permission to touch another person, let alone get down and dirty with them. I see more of an opening for a return to the courtly love songs of the middle ages. Better work on those lute chops. Greensleeves anyone?

A huge number of traditional blues lyrics are about asking permission to touch another person.

Boromedic

Can't believe no one has mentioned JD Simo yet! Chops for days and decent songs/voice, watch him live on YouTube, he's amazing.

jimmyguitar

Boromedic said:

Can't believe no one has mentioned JD Simo yet! Chops for days and decent songs/voice, watch him live on YouTube, he's amazing.

He ‘liked’ my video on Instagram the other day, I was taken aback! Awesome player.

mburekenge

I think loads of these guys have killer chops and i really like them all.

However, the issue for me is the voices. Bb, freddie albert king etc didnt just have decent voices, imo they are some of the best ever recorded.

Out of the current crop JD has the best voice imo

JDE

JD’s vocals have really come into their own in the last year or so. I think he’s singing the best he ever has. Songs off the new record are strong too, not just widdle widdle. 

In terms of “clean blues” Robert Cray - total package. Tone and chops, strong songs, excellent choice of covers, excellent voice. 

TINMAN82

Hoping JD Simo will be supporting Tommy Emmanuel on this years tour.

Boromedic

Nice to see some JD love, I hope he tours as well again. 

rossi

You really need a good ear for freelance  music and some feeling for timing and the material .Too much is whitey blues .It bears little relationship to negro blues when feeling and timing are paramount .Clapton isnt really a good blues singer but better than most .I always tell people if you want to  get the   blues listen to Hooker not Clapton.

Lewy

mburekenge said:

I think loads of these guys have killer chops and i really like them all.

However, the issue for me is the voices. Bb, freddie albert king etc didnt just have decent voices, imo they are some of the best ever recorded.

Out of the current crop JD has the best voice imo

Very true. And the same goes for the rural blues musicians that went before - some of the most wonderful vocals ever recorded.

I think Robben Ford pretty much paved the way for the amazing-guitar-but-weak-vocals phenomenon...in the blues at least. Hendrix was maybe the first in any genre. Gary Moore was a bit club style too.

I have a lot of respect for people like Guthrie Trapp (obvs more country than blues although he plays amazing blues) who say "no...I could probably get away with it but it won't be very good" and get guest vocalists on their records.

TINMAN82

rossi said:

You really need a good ear for freelance  music and some feeling for timing and the material .Too much is whitey blues .It bears little relationship to negro blues when feeling and timing are paramount .Clapton isnt really a good blues singer but better than most .I always tell people if you want to  get the   blues listen to Hooker not Clapton.

Woah, steady on! Clapton’s vocals are fantastic, IMO an equal to his guitar playing. His voice really does justice to the songs on unplugged and those live in the 70s recordings for example.
 
Yes the “3 kings”, particularly BB in his prime, we’re also outstanding. Plenty of the old country blues singers were nothing special in the vocal department and tended to follow the same template.

Hooker is great but relatively one dimensional when you study the songs.

I think the “white mans blues” thing is waaay over played. Clapton, Green, Winter, Trucks et al are/were an equal to those of different skin tone. It’s all great music. Limiting respect only to those who worked the fields is short sighted.

Lewy

TINMAN82 said:

I think the “white mans blues” thing is waaay over played. Clapton, Green, Winter, Trucks et al are/were an equal to those of different skin tone. It’s all great music. Limiting respect only to those who worked the fields is short sighted.

Only if you choose to retrospectively unhitch blues music from the conditions of it's genesis and development, and doing that would be the shortsighted course of action in my opinion. None of the people you list, by the way, would consider themselves equal to the originators of the genre and would likely recoil at the very notion. 

TINMAN82

Lewy said:

TINMAN82 said:

I think the “white mans blues” thing is waaay over played. Clapton, Green, Winter, Trucks et al are/were an equal to those of different skin tone. It’s all great music. Limiting respect only to those who worked the fields is short sighted.

Only if you choose to retrospectively unhitch blues music from the conditions of it's genesis and development, and doing that would be the shortsighted course of action in my opinion. None of the people you list, by the way, would consider themselves equal to the originators of the genre and would likely recoil at the very notion. 

If Clapton chooses not to view himself Muddy Waters equal (however “equal” may be defined) thiats his opinion.

Personally, I think his body of work has placed him equal to and in fact surpassing that of some of the original blues guys.

Where do you draw the line at how close music has to be to its origin to be considered worthy of merit? It’s a silly arguement. By that definition the greatest musical accomplishments were made with fife and drum on the cotton fields and all who came after are frauds. You don’t need to be a slave to “feel the blues”.

cbilly22

bbill335 said:

Lewy said:

Tenebrous said:

Anything more along the lines of Jack White & that dirty blues style of The White Stripes that people can recommend? Not too much of a fan of Mayer/Bonamassa, but I'm always down for some genuine attitude & emotion.

Get hold of a compilation album. from Fat Possum records called “Not The Same Old Blues Crap”. 

Yeah defo a good start point with the Fat Possum stuff. Junior Kimbrough, RL Burnside, Bob Log III, indie brummie heroes Black Mekon. The Sunday Nights album (a tribute to Junior Kimbrough) has the Stooges, Black Keys, Jon Spencer on it but some lesser known guys too. Heartless Bastards do a particularly killer "Done Got Old".

Wis awarded. I got Sunday Nights pretty soon after it came out and spent many a day at work listening to it. The Heartless Bastards Done Got Old and first Stooges track is worth the money alone. Lanegans All Night Long is great too.