AndyB
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 348
- Location
- Durham, NC, USA
I have been studying this topic recently and I have really had a revelation and a change of opinion. First, what is "traditional blues?" Is it based on when a blues song was written or recorded? Or is it based on what the public and blues fans remember and appreciate today? Or is it based on what modern blues musicians still perform today? Maybe there has to be a "tradition" for blues to be traditional instead of simply being historical. I'm not certain there is a clear answer. I was also interested in seeing where "traditional blues" overlapped with the saxophone tradition, of course.
I have found that blues songs began to be published and recorded in the late 1910s and early 1920s on piano, saxophone and guitar fairly contemporaneously. So, are all those "traditional blues" based on when they were recorded or which of them are still remembered?
In order to get any grasp on this and avoid inserting my personal bias I surveyed numerous internet sites listing the greatest blues songs of all times, the best old blues, the most frequent blues jam song lists, etc. and then restricted that list to only blues songs written before 1950. I was actually shocked at how short that list was.
I immediately recognize a large portion of this list as songs that English kids took a liking to in post WWII Britain. So many English rock bands recorded their own versions of many of these traditional blues songs. Perhaps the so-called British Invasion of the 1960s led to them also being remembered in the USA. Some are dated as 1930 or 1940 because that artist was known to have performed those songs at that time but they were not published or recorded at that time.
I may take a survey of the 1950s next, but this first cut of pre-1950 was eye-opening. A lot of songs just missed the 1950 cut-off. I was surprised not to see some artists like Ma Rainy in any of these best of lists.
I have found that blues songs began to be published and recorded in the late 1910s and early 1920s on piano, saxophone and guitar fairly contemporaneously. So, are all those "traditional blues" based on when they were recorded or which of them are still remembered?
In order to get any grasp on this and avoid inserting my personal bias I surveyed numerous internet sites listing the greatest blues songs of all times, the best old blues, the most frequent blues jam song lists, etc. and then restricted that list to only blues songs written before 1950. I was actually shocked at how short that list was.
I immediately recognize a large portion of this list as songs that English kids took a liking to in post WWII Britain. So many English rock bands recorded their own versions of many of these traditional blues songs. Perhaps the so-called British Invasion of the 1960s led to them also being remembered in the USA. Some are dated as 1930 or 1940 because that artist was known to have performed those songs at that time but they were not published or recorded at that time.
I may take a survey of the 1950s next, but this first cut of pre-1950 was eye-opening. A lot of songs just missed the 1950 cut-off. I was surprised not to see some artists like Ma Rainy in any of these best of lists.
Year | Song | Artist |
1914 | Memphis Blues | W.C. Handy |
1920 | Crazy Blues | Mamie Smith |
1923 | Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out | Bessie Smith |
1926 | Pinetop’s Boogie Woogie | Pine Top Smith |
1927 | Matchbox Blues | Blind Lemon Jefferson |
1927 | Black Snake Moan | Blind Lemon Jefferson |
1928 | How Long Blues | Leroy Carr |
1928 | Payday | Mississippi John Hurt |
1929 | Statesboro Blues | Blind Willie McTell |
1929 | Pony Blues | Charlie Patton |
1929 | High water everywhere | Charlie Patton |
1930 | Sittin on top of the world | Mississippi Sheiks |
1931 | Pearline | Son House |
1933 | Gimme a Pigfoot | Bessie Smith |
1935 | Baby Please Don’t Go | Big Joe Williams |
1936 | Crossroad Blues | Robert Johnson |
1936 | Sweet Home Chicago | Robert Johnson |
1936 | The Sky is Crying | Robert Johnson |
1936 | Hellhound on my Trail | Robert Johnson |
1936 | Dust my Broom | Robert Johnson |
1936 | Kindhearted Woman Blues | Robert Johnson |
1937 | Parchman Farm Blues | Bukka White |
1937 | Good Morning Little Schoolgirl | Sonny Boy Williamson I |
1940 | Crawlin King Snake | John Lee Hooker |
1940 | You Gotta Move | Mississippi Fred McDowell |
1941 | Catfish Blues | Robert Petway |
1947 | Stormy Monday Blues | T-Bone Walker |
1948 | Boogie Chilen | John Lee Hooker |