Rock Evolution – The History of Rock ’n’ Roll - The Blues (pg 9)

[Saddleworth2]

Now that I see how all of this works and we can add in songs after the fact, I'll instead opt for 1986 to give you 1985 and your time with Kate.

Who am I to stand in the way of THAT. So it appears that things can only get better as not everybody wants to rule the world.

BTW, tremendous high bar for the Blues write up and introduction. I didn't have time to read or listen yet earlier today with work, but wow, a fantastic start. Kudos.

Thank you mate. Better check what else was going down in 1985 :-)

 

[Saddleworth2]

Absolutely brilliant write up that @Saddleworth2 and it's set a really good bar for what will be another of @RobMCFC 's brilliant music threads.

I love the blues - my Dad was a brilliant blues/jazz guitarist and I've heard him play a fair few of these. He can't play any more but hearing these songs really brought some great memories back of hearing him playing to crowds. At the time I took it for granted that my Dad could do it incredibly well and it was only last week he said he could no longer play the guitar and could only play his slide guitar a bit. It's really sad.

It really does astonish me how complex/interesting the blues can get considering it's 'simple' music, especially when it starts to mix in with jazz as well!

Can you imagine how it must have felt for those people who first wandered into the bars of Chicago and heard 'electrified blues' for the first time? You would literally be hearing the birth of modern music.

I loved the playlist and the ones which stood out for me were 'Cross Road Blues' - how could it not! 'Hoochie Coochie Man' is just one of those songs that I wish I'd wrote. It's simple, sexy yet the way it's sung is just something else. You could ask 7777 people to record this and they'd all sing the same song differently and yet none would come close to the great man.

'Dust my broom' is an absolute class and I honestly think it's one of the best starts to any songs I've ever heard. It's raw, stripped back and just fucking brilliant. I have a playlist on Spotify called 'Drinking Music' and this song is the opener :) if it's warm outside and I fancy a beer this song goes on ha ha!

Any track by Howling Wolf always hits the spot - the guy just has one of them voices. Anything he sings just sounds amazing.

What a great start to the thread!

You know mate, I spent a lot of time on that. The original version was about 4 times as long! Getting feedback like that makes it all worthwhile. I wish I could have heard your dad play.

 

[GoatersLeftShin]

You know mate, I spent a lot of time on that. The original version was about 4 times as long! Getting feedback like that makes it all worthwhile. I wish I could have heard your dad play.

You could tell a lot of effort went into it mate, it was really good and I also picked up on some names I've not come across before and I'll be digging around on Spotify on their back catalogues!

He was a genuinely incredible guitarist - he could play by ear (something I can't do) and was able to play different tunings, styles and also sing a the same time. Pretty much everything I can't do on a guitar! :) I blame my Mum! :D

Seriously though, great post and really enjoyed it! I've started thinking about my year now! :)

 

[threespires]

Because I love a rabbit hole and making grand assumptions based on less than 1% knowledge of a subject I did read on wiki about an instrument called a diddly bow which could be considered a very very simple slide guitar. Apparently lots of blues players will have graduated from this kind of instrument and the string bend is reflective of that style. Dust My Broom on the playlist is played with a slide and you can hear how that would have influenced plenty of players not playing with a slide throwing in some bends to replicate it

Hard to say on some of this as it's not very well documented. On the one hand just had a read that suggests first documented used of it diddly bows in the south was in the 30s but that's later than documented use of bending techniques on guitars which suggests it's unlikely it was a 'no slide' imitation of the diddly bow. But then given the diddly bow is based on African instruments the fact that it's not written up till the 30s doesn't mean there wasn't something similar circulating well before then. Copying the vocal blues still seems the more plausible origin to me but I suspect the truth is lost in the midst of time.

It's the same with things like the blues influence on early jazz. It's clear that it got from the rural areas to New Orleans too early for blues recordings to be the driver of that awareness but there's little written down about how it did actually happen.

 

[threespires]

You could tell a lot of effort went into it mate, it was really good and I also picked up on some names I've not come across before and I'll be digging around on Spotify on their back catalogues!

He was a genuinely incredible guitarist - he could play by ear (something I can't do) and was able to play different tunings, styles and also sing a the same time. Pretty much everything I can't do on a guitar! :) I blame my Mum! :D

Seriously though, great post and really enjoyed it! I've started thinking about my year now! :)

If it's not being too nosey, did your Dan play professionally or was he a gifted amateur?

 

[threespires]

Another thing that might be interesting (?) as we go along is iconic record labels. Chess Records is an obvious one for Blues but I'm sure there's others too. Chess sticks in my mind not just for the artists but for the slightly incongruous fact it was set up by two Polish blokes.

 

[mancity111]

Christ! How am I meant to top this when I have 1996 , the year of Mr Blobby and the Spice Girls!
Wonderfully written and interesting insight - The Blues paved the way in so much Pop Music that’s it’s hard to put into words its influence, have added the playlist and hopefully get time to listen.

Brilliant stuff , no Kamala cut and paste here right from the heart.

9/10.

 

[RobMCFC]

Absolutely brilliant write up that @Saddleworth2 and it's set a really good bar for what will be another of @RobMCFC 's brilliant music threads.

I love the blues - my Dad was a brilliant blues/jazz guitarist and I've heard him play a fair few of these. He can't play any more but hearing these songs really brought some great memories back of hearing him playing to crowds. At the time I took it for granted that my Dad could do it incredibly well and it was only last week he said he could no longer play the guitar and could only play his slide guitar a bit. It's really sad.

It really does astonish me how complex/interesting the blues can get considering it's 'simple' music, especially when it starts to mix in with jazz as well!

Can you imagine how it must have felt for those people who first wandered into the bars of Chicago and heard 'electrified blues' for the first time? You would literally be hearing the birth of modern music.

I loved the playlist and the ones which stood out for me were 'Cross Road Blues' - how could it not! 'Hoochie Coochie Man' is just one of those songs that I wish I'd wrote. It's simple, sexy yet the way it's sung is just something else. You could ask 7777 people to record this and they'd all sing the same song differently and yet none would come close to the great man.

'Dust my broom' is an absolute class and I honestly think it's one of the best starts to any songs I've ever heard. It's raw, stripped back and just fucking brilliant. I have a playlist on Spotify called 'Drinking Music' and this song is the opener :) if it's warm outside and I fancy a beer this song goes on ha ha!

Any track by Howling Wolf always hits the spot - the guy just has one of them voices. Anything he sings just sounds amazing.

What a great start to the thread!

Thanks for those kind words. Obviously, only one of us could start the thread, but the idea for this one is a joint effort between me and @Saddleworth2 (with @threespires helping out along the way).

Sorry to hear that your dad can no longer play. Make sure he gets to listen to this playlist, although obviously he will know all the songs anyway!

 

[RobMCFC]

Late to another thread and missed 1985... sigh. 1986 will do if not yet taken, and 1993 as a second choice option, 2002 as a third.

I've put you down for these years - see updated writer's table on page #1.

 

[GoatersLeftShin]

If it's not being too nosey, did your Dan play professionally or was he a gifted amateur?

He was a very gifted semi-pro. He had a "normal" job but as we got older he got back to playing music live and would get paid a decent amount. Not enough to be a full time job but enough to make it worthwhile and paid for his hobby.

He has mobility issues and can't feel his fingers anymore so can't play anything really except a bit of slide guitar. It's sad to see someone who could play so well unable to do it anymore.