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, March 4, 2011

King of the Blues

Alright, So this post isn't about an artist, but rather a competition that Guitar Center puts on every year called King of the Blues.

So the idea is pretty straight forward. The nation is broken up into various districts and three levels of competition weed out all but about 10 or so competitors that go head to head in a final show at the House of Blues in LA. Winners of the various levels win prizes, but the Grand Prize Winner takes home some walkin' around money, a sweet Gibson guitar and a recording contract.

The reason I take the time to write about this is that I think competitions like these keep the blues alive. As I have said, blues seem to have taken a back seat to punk rock and alt rock. Such a major competition gives guitarists an incentive to hone their inner blues man.

In addition, like Ernie Ball's "Battle of the Bands", I think any competition that seeks out the truly talented from amongst the "average Joes" and gives them a foo in the door is a boon to industry. Bands get their music heard and industry execs may just find "the next big thing". Everyone wins and the music industry as a whole benefits from it in my opinion.
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