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Chapter 19: Ten (Plus One) Must-Have Blues Guitar Albums
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12 of Waters’s best songs, including his R&B chart successes “I’m Your Hoochie
Coochie Man,” “Long Distance Call,” “I’m Ready,” “Honey Bee,” “I Just Wanna
Make Love to You,” “Still a Fool,” and “Rollin’ Stone” — the song which
inspired publisher Jann Wenner to name his music magazine. Chapter 12
contains more info on Waters.
B.B. King: Live at the Regal
MCA, 1965. Live at the Regal is one of the best live blues albums of all time,
and it showcases B.B. King’s spectacular guitar work, piercing voice, and
talent for working a live theater audience. The gems found in this treasure
chest include “Every Day I Have the Blues,” “Sweet Little Angel,” “How Blue
Can You Get,” “Worry, Worry,” and “You Upset Me Baby.” If you ever forget
that the blues is best served up as a live listening experience, go back to this
album and to King as he tears the joint up. Check out Chapter 12 for more
information on King.
The Very Best of Buddy Guy
Rhino, 1992. Buddy Guy’s long career is captured well on this Rhino compilation,
which includes songs from Guy’s multi-label associations — Chess and
Vanguard in the ’60s and Atlantic in the ’70s. The music shows off the varied
selection of the different styles that Buddy trafficked in (funk, R&B), and this
disc highlights Guy’s incredible range in the early and middle part of his
career. Along with Otis Rush and Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy was one of the
architects of the Chicago sound (and, along with Rush and Magic Sam, known
as a leader of the “West Side” school of blues).
Robert Cray: Bad Influence
Mercury, 1986. Robert Cray’s versatility really shines on this album, especially
in the canny way he pays homage to his influences Johnnie “Guitar”
Watson, Albert Collins, and Buddy Guy. Cray proved here, and in subsequent
releases, to be a triple threat in songwriting, singing, and playing, and he’s in
a class by himself for finding the right formula to bring the traditional blues
into the modern era.
TEAM LinG