When you can’t find it on Google.

A blues primer

A coworker of mine has never heard of B.B. King. This must be remedied. In response, I’ve created “An Evolution of Blues” compilation. It’s not a definitive list and I had to question if certain songs could truly be considered blues tracks (when they’d likely first be catalogued as jazz, rock ballad, folk, country or downtempo, to name a few).

John Mayall
John Mayall by Federico Giammusso

If you’re already familiar with blues music, you’ll notice that more than half of these songs have been covered (or are covers). I found myself browsing the Second Hand Songs database quite a bit during this process. Several “essential” artists have been omitted, particularly from the 50s and 60s—this list is geared towards a blues “beginner”, so I only picked a few songs from each decade for the sake of brevity.  I won’t say much else about this list. Hopefully it will speak for itself and spark some controversy.

I chose many of these after running across Martin Scorsese’s 5-disc blues compilation (a companion piece to his 7-part PBS series, The Blues). While I’ve never seen the series, I know that several musicians guided Scorsese’s selections, so they’re much more qualified than I am to recommend blues songs. I couldn’t even identify a 12-bar blues song.

In chronological order (writing credits in parenthesis):

  1. Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground – Blind Willie Johnson, 1927
  2. Traveling Riverside Blues – Robert Johnson, 1937
  3. All of Me – Billie Holiday, 1941 (Gerald Marks, Seymour Simons, 1931)
  4. Catfish Blues – Robert Petway, 1941
  5. Ain’t Nobody’s Business, Part One – Jimmy Witherspoon, 1949 (Porter Grainger, circ. 1921)
  6. That’s All Right Mama – Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup, 1949
  7. Beale Street Blues – Louis Armstrong, 1954 (W.C. Handy, 1916)
  8. Folsom Prison Blues – Johnny Cash, 1955
  9. Who Do You Love? – Bo Diddley, 1956
  10. Blue Monday – Fats Domino, 1956
  11. Love Me – Elvis, 1956 (Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, circ. 1954)
  12. Johnny B. Goode – Chuck Berry, 1958
  13. Spoonful – Howlin’ Wolf, 1960 (Willie Dixon)
  14. At Last – Etta James, 1961 (Mack Gordon, Harry Warren, 1941)
  15. The Times They Are A-Changin’ – Bob Dylan, 1964
  16. Wang Dang Doodle – Koko Taylor, 1966 (Willie Dixon, 1960)
  17. Lilac Wine – Nina Simone, 1966 (James Shelton, 1950)
  18. Red House – Jimi Hendrix, 1966
  19. While My Guitar Gently Weeps – The Beatles, 1968
  20. Piece of My Heart – Big Brother and the Holding Company [Janis Joplin], 1968 (Jerry Ragovoy, Bert Berns, 1967)
  21. Crossroads – Cream, 1968 (Robert Johnson, 1937)
  22. Black Magic Woman – Fleetwood Mac, 1968
  23. The Lemon Song – Led Zeppelin, 1969 (Howlin’ Wolf, 1964)
  24. Roadhouse Blues – The Doors, 1970
  25. The Thrill Is Gone – B.B. King, 1970 (Rick Darnell, Roy Hawkins, 1951)
  26. Lookin’ Out My Back Door – Creedence Clearwater Revival, 1970
  27. Move It On Over – George Thorogood & The Destroyers, 1978 (Hank Williams, 1947)
  28. Pride and Joy – Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, 1983
  29. She Talks to Angels – The Black Crowes, 1990
  30. November Rain – Guns N’ Roses, 1991
  31. Am I Wrong? – Keb’ Mo’, 1994
  32. Rehab – Amy Winehouse, 2006
  33. Bold As Love – John Mayer, 2006 (Jimi Hendrix, 1967)
  34. 300 M.P.H. Torrential Outpour Blues – The White Stripes, 2007
  35. The Rip – Portishead, 2008
  36. Scumbag Blues – Them Crooked Vultures, 2009
  37. Tighten Up – The Black Keys, 2010

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