Discuss blues music.

Any Mississippi John Hurt fans? He has such a wonderful laid back style of playing and singing. One of the more lovable musicians in all of music, in my opinion.

Edit: Actually, to be precise, I find him to be more likable, personality wise, than any other musician.

One of my favourite quotes from anybody, that I think sums up his image very nicely:
"If I was to have just one wish and I knew that wish was to come true, . . . I would wish that everyone in this world would love me just like I love everyone in this world."

personal favorites:Robert Johnson, Son House, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie Johnson, Charley Patton, Blind Willie McTell

again, i don't see the point of such thread when we have an entire subforum devoted to blues music.

pretty much the only blues musician i can listen to any time and without ever getting tired of is blind willie mctell... anyway i'll throw this out for controversy's sake - blues music has been going downhill since about the '30s or '40s. (which kinda makes sense, though, most genres have a lifespan of a few decades at most, and it'd just given birth to rock n roll among other things)

agreed. although i think its had some bright spots, namely the heavy blues/rock artists like Stevie Ray and his followers. that Texas electric stuff.

I agree that pure blues went downhill after the 30s and 40s. There's little doubt in my mind that this is true, to be honest. But, in all fairness to the genre, it has influenced rock music, significantly, and magnificently, for decades since.

I'm thinking a "General Discussion of Blues" thread in the Blues forum (like the one in the Jazz forum) would be more appropriate than a thread here. Clearly not many blues fans frequenting this forum.

Dark Was the Night - Cold Was the Ground by Blind Willie Johnson just completely shattered all my preconceived notions of the blues.

what were the preconceived notions, anyway?

That the blues was just a repetitive music that was hugely influential to other genres, but by itself it is just sort of boring.

How familiar are you with that country blues style? Quite a great difference from the white-boy bands you might hear, or even the great artists in the 50's.

Not very. I bought Ted Gioia's book on the Delta Blues, and I think I will read it over the summer to become less ignorant.

That ought to be good. I oddly enough started listining to Delta styles first, under the wrong impression that if listined to these same guys Clapton, Dylan, and the Stones raved about then I'd be as good as them. Though I never looked back.