Starting my own section of blues recommendations fills me with a creeping sense of guilt and complicity. Why? Because I'm a white guy writing about an almost completely black genre - black, at least, in its origins and in the artists that brought the blues to its zenith in the 50's and 60's. Unlike, say, jazz or soul, white performers (let alone white business partners) played little or no positive role in the development of the blues. What positive effect whites had was far outweighed by the commercial exploitation and social exclusion blues pioneers met at every crossroads.

Further, there have been absolutely no significant white blues performers. The Eric Claptons, Mike Bloomfields, and George Thorogoods of the world (to name a few of the better-known examples) were, at best, acolytes and, at worst, imitators. Most can't even properly be called blues musicians: they played rock, folk, or pop music influenced by the blues, and much of it was unabashedly horrible.

Mostly, though, writing about the blues makes me feel complicit in the unseemly, modern "blues revival" - a movement almost completely white and unoriginal, a popular uprising of middle-class, middle-aged (usually drunk) white guys pretending that they know something about oppression, depravity, rebellion, and the contradictory celebration of life arises from those conditions. These things are the essence of the blues, and, being a middle-class, middle-aged white guy, I can vouch that we know nearly nothing about them.

So why am I here? Well, I can also vouch that the blues, like all music, is a universal language, and I have come to understand it academically, if not experientially. Eventually, I came to love blues music if only for its influence on music more akin to my world - rhythm and blues, soul, rock - but in its own right, too. In a general way, the blues speak to things we all have in common - love, betrayal, anger, death - and, from that perspective, I, too, got a right to sing the blues - just, well, not in public..

On the other hand, as mentioned above, the blues world is now dominated by white folks. The records are made by white performers, many of them talented and certainly well-meaning but often sanitized and uninspired in ways anathema to the blues. White blues musicians frequently teeter on the precipice of caricature. Like Amos N' Andy, they trade in grossly rendered black mannerisms; that they do it out of love for the form rather than derision of the race seems a poor excuse.

Sadly, though, most modern blues records - the good ones as well as the bad - are sold almost exclusively to white folks, too. The black audience for blues music has dwindled down to an older, mainly southern crowd of diehards. The stars of this scene are often no more than survivors, the ones left alive after lo these many years, and this bodes poorly for the future. For every Robert Cray, there have been five or ten Koko Taylors, Hop Wilsons, or Sam McClains - artists who simply lived long enough to finally get their due. When they are gone, who will carry on?

The young black audience doesn't seem to have room for the blues. Truth be told, they haven't had room for many years. The birth of rock and roll and (especially) soul music pushed the blues aside, made it the music of an older, less sophisticated generation. Ironically, it took the white audiences of the folk revival in the early 60's and the devout worship of British musicians (John Mayall, Rolling Stones, Cream, et al.) later in the decade to finally canonize Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and the like. That's all well and good, but the net effect was deadly; by exalting the blues and incorporating it into their own music, the 60's generation changed it irrevocably while setting the original style in stone - sacrosanct, untouchable, unchanging.

So, let's be honest. I come to praise that original style. Indeed, in my research and writing, I hope to increase my own understanding and appreciation for it. And, I hold no particular grudge against modern blues, though modern players will be few and far between among my recommendations. Mainly, I cannot ignore the fact that modern blues fans made rich men out of John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, and other deserving old masters. But, also, there are modern artists who have made great blues (or, at least, blues-influenced) records. Many of these artists are from my home state of Texas (Stevie Ray Vaughan foremost among them), so it seems unpatriotic, if not dishonest, not to acknowledge this fact.

Is the blues alive today? Not sure - does mummification count? Nevertheless, my stated purpose on these pages is to spread the word about the music I love, and I love the blues. From one white guy to the world, here's my take on the best blues around. What's your take? Drop me a line...

Randy Anthony

I feel like going home...

The Blues Bookshelf

• Deep Blues (Robert Palmer, 1982)
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (edited by John Swenson, 1999)
• Blues - The Rough Guide: 100 Essential CDs (Greg Ward, 2000)
• Rythm Oil: A Journey Through The American South (Stanley Booth, 2000)

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The Blues On The Web

• All Music Guide
• Blues Hall Of Fame
• Blue Highway
• Bluesland
• Blues Net
• Early Blues
• Delta Blues Museum
• Google

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Feedback

Your witty comments, impertinent questions, helpful suggestions, and angry denials are altogether encouraged. Submit feedback via email; submissions will be edited and posted at my discretion.

May 28, 2006. I came across your article on blues. I found it well written and thought-provoking. You're right, most blues music today is purchased by white people. In fact, I go to a lot of blues shows and most everybody in the audience is white, too - I'm talking 95%-100%. It's a sad state of affairs when most black people listen to rap or soul music instead of blues - only the diehard ones that still listen.

What you said about there being no significant white blues musicians is way off, though. I offer one and only name for you. This is because this artist blows away most of his predeccesors, black or white. Offering any more names would only lessen the impact of me mentioning his name and his greatness. He is Jonny Lang. I have all of his albums and have seen him three times in concert. He started really young and made it big as a young teenager. Don't take my word for it... talk to Buddy Guy. He'll tell you!

Modern blues is alive and well. However, as you probably know, blues music of any kind gets little or no airplay. I gave up terrestrial radio two months ago because of satellite radio came into my life. I'll never go back. Even with that, there is only one dedicated blues station. It is commercial free and all-blues-all-the-time, so it's definitely better than anything else I've ever heard.

But, it's watered down. I sent them an email recently discussing this fact -and that there should be a modern blues station, too. If you can have seven different rock stations and four different country stations, you should be able to squeeze out a second blues station! I said it should only be modern blues... say, the last 20-25 years. There is plenty of music to fill it up all day every day. This station would give modern blues performers a place for their music to be heard.

Modern blues greats that I like, have purchased music from, and have seen in concert include: Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Candye Kane, Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks, Eric Steckel, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and a beautiful lady I just got turned onto, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals.

Great modern blues music must be sought after. It won't come to you... you must go out and find it. - Todd Vernon

Randy Responds. Thanks, Todd. I get a lot of letters saying much the same thing. Your point is well taken, even if I'd still rather listen to Buddy Guy than Jonny Lang. By the way, Candye Kane played at my store, once. Really nice lady - sweet and spicy!

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