Singing the Blues

Funnily enough for quite a young boy, some of the first music I grew to love in my life was the Blues.  Maybe I was a morose young chap (although I don’t like to think so), or I had an old soul, but a part of me revelled in the stories told in the songs and I adored singing along ‘the sky is crying’ or ‘I’m a hoochie coochie man’ and I loved hearing the raw blues guitar or harmonica as it ripped through me and made my insides ache.

I started out with Eric Clapton and one of the first albums I owned was ‘Journeyman’.  The track ‘Old Love’, whilst slightly too polished to my ears now, was a great introduction to the blues.  I now prefer the slightly more emotional version from ‘24 Nights’.  Clapton’s album of blues covers ‘From the Cradle’ is still one of my favourite blues albums to this day and I will happily turn up the volume on this album and feel strangely uplifted by the blues on offer.

Jimi Hendrix is another early blues artist for me (I’ve mentioned in ‘Discovering Jimi Hendrix’ how I discovered his music) and whilst he has some great rock music in his back catalogue, tracks like ‘Red house’ are as blue as they come and the original version of ‘Voodoo Chile’ still gives me Goosebumps to this day.

I quickly began digging out other blues albums and blues compilations and mixed them with more rock stuff as well.  Gary Moore is a great example of a rock guitarist who also plays some searing blues guitar.  ‘The Loner’ and ‘Parisienne Walkways’ are both simply breath taking.

I also remember one track from a blues compilation that I used to play, rewind the cassette and then play again, called ‘Christo Redemptor’ by Charlie Musslewaite.  The version I had was a live performance and to hear the harmonica wailing away as the crowd whooped and yelled in the background was magical to my young ears.  But boy was that a mournful, melancholy soaked song!

My blues listening developed into a roll call of the greats, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, Robert Johnson, Rory Gallagher, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Janis Joplin, Johnny Winter, B.B. King, Buddy Guy and on and on and on and my blues education continued apace.

Even after my tastes moved on to other types of music and I started to listen to heavier rock during my teenage years I still had/have a soft spot for the blues.  I enjoy Seasick Steve and his style of blues and I have been playing his various albums a great deal recently.

The blues was for me and I still believe is for anyone, a great grounding to explore other music.  From the blues I explored soul and gospel music, jazz, the great rock bands of the 60’s, some of the heavier rock of the 70’s and 80’s and I can see it’s influence in some of the great metal bands I enjoy listening to today.

It goes without saying you don’t necessarily have to have a blue personality, or have experienced the same strife in your life as in the songs you hear.  The stories are often universal and the emotion in the music carries you along where there are holes in your own personal knowledge.

Although I may have been a slightly unusual child and when other kids were outside playing and still listening to the music their parent enjoyed, I was often inside reading my books and exploring my own musical avenues, but I wouldn’t of had it any other way.  It stood me in good stead when I started to experience my own heartache later in life and whilst I couldn’t stop these things from hurting me and shaping me, at least I could relate more directly and I had a damn good soundtrack to go along with them.