When most people hear "the blues", the first image that probably pops into their mind is a middle aged African American man plucking away at his acoustic guitar on a porch somewhere in Louisiana. While many of the genre's forefathers may have fit that mold, it is a restrictive and inaccurate view of a diverse and rich form of music that is the root for almost all modern music. Those that maintain this stereotypical view of the blues and assume it is "grandpa music" are missing out on a lot.

Since the electrification of the guitar shot it to the forefront of three and four piece bands, music entered an evolutionary time warp not unlike that the quantum leaps in science and technology occurring at the same time.

Some of the pioneers during the 50's were B.B. King, Albert King, Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson. Chuck Berry was among the first to take the blues and kick it up a notch, speeding up the tempo and creating many rock riffs and techniques that are standard vocabulary today.

By the 60's and 70's, the blues had traveled across the pond to Britain. Bands like Cream, the Who, the Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin all traced their roots back to the blues forefathers. Even Angus Young of AC/DC, considered metal by many(the band always maintains that they are a rock band, not metal) has a very bluesy style of playing.

By the 80's, "Blues-Rock" had become indistinguishable from "Hard Rock". It wasn't until artists like Stevie Ray Vaughan came along and took blues back to it's roots.

Some modern bands that have bluesy overtones include the Black Keys and the White Stripes.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Joe Bonamassa



Joes Bonamassa grew up in Utica, New York as a fourth generation musician, his father a guitar player, and both his grandfater and great father being trumpet players. Unlike most blues players, Bonamassa was inspired more by British and Irish blues rockers than by the traditional delta blues forefathers. Influences that Bonamassa cited include "The Jeff Beck Group", Eric Clapton, Peter Green, and Rory Gallagher. According the Bonamassa, “I think, the English interpretation of the blues just hit me a lot better, you know?" Personally, this resounds with me as I am much the same way. I was first and am primarily influenced by artists from the later generation of 20th century blues artists.

Bonamassa debuted in 2000 with A New Day Yesterday, a play off of the '69 Jethro Tull song of the same name. Bonamassa covers the title song in the album. Bonamassa staryed into pop rock on occasiion, but by and large has remained true to his blues roots. He has a very raw sound. His vocals really belt and his guitar playing matches it. He comes from the same vein as one of his musical fathers, Gary Moore. Bonamassa plays Strats, but mostly I have seen him play a Gibosn Les Paul, which lends itself to Bonamassa's heavy, meatier style of playing.


Here are two live videos

Blues Deluxe

If Heartaches Were Nickels
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)