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.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Jimmie Vaughan


Stevie Ray Vaughan's Older and less well known brother is a living legend in his own right. Compared to his brother, Jimmie has a thinner, brighter sound when he plays. His style is simple and straight forward but can really reel you in and is a must for any blues guitarist out there. His biggest influences are “the Kings”, Albert, Freddie, an B.B. But the guitarist he spent the most time studying was Johnny “Guitar” Johnson. Jimmie played a variety of guitars, but he mostly played a stratocaster and has his own custom series.

Jimmie was actually personally coached by Freddie King. He also opened for Jimi Hendrix who broke Jimmie's Vox wah pedal and gave him his touring pedal. He also played with blues legend W.C. Clark who founded a bunch of different blues bands around Austin. After going out on his own, Jimmie later founded “The Fabulous Thunderbirds”. Jimmie left the group in 1989 and made one family album with his brother before Stevie died in a helicopter crash. He continues his solo career to this day and has made appearances at the Crossroads Guitar Festival among others

Here is Jimmie playing “Six String Down”.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk2JWah7LGQ&feature=related
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