(July 2024) Episode 586 is BIG BILL BROONZY. He was among the early generation of recorded country blues guitarist/singers, and his interests and influence were as wide as they are under-acknowledged. His name pops up in many places, as a progenitor of the electric Chicago blues, in the folk revival, and the popularization of blues and folk in Europe, including crucially in the UK. He delved into ragtime, country, folk, jazz-inflected songs and spirituals. Not surprisingly, given my previous episodes, my favorites are the early acoustic guitar blues numbers.

Favorite album: Do That Guitar Rag

Favorite song: I Can’t Be Satisfied

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: There are a ton of collections and anthologies out there. For the early guitar work, I recommend Do That Guitar Rag or The Young Big Bill Broonzy

(May 2024) Episode 573 is BESSIE SMITH. She is known as “Empress of the Blues” for being the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s. Her vocal delivery over piano and jazz ensemble arrangements has come to be known as vaudeville or classic blues, to distinguish from the guitar-based styles. We are lucky to have a good set of recordings, despite their vintage, that provide a good appreciation of her powerful voice.

Favorite song: Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: There are several compilations out there; all good.

(April 2024) Episode 562 is MUDDY WATERS. As the “father of the Chicago blues,” it’s hard to measure his impact. He helped make Chicago a capital of blues music, fronting and fostering many famous musicians and songwriters of the genre. Any listener of classic rock will immediately recognize his influence there, as so many rock groups covered and adapted his songs. Personally, I like best his 1940s-early 1950s recordings, which accords with my preference among blues music for the earlier generation of acoustic guitar performers (Johnson, Jefferson, Patton, Cotton, etc.). However, I must admit that the electric blues style, the one he is most famous for, tends to lose my attention fairly quickly. And I have idiosyncratic taste for his 1968 album “Electric Mud,” considered the nadir of his career by critics, but for me it’s Muddy deliciously awash in fuzzed up psychedelic guitar.

Favorite album: Folk Singer

Favorite song: Feel Like Goin’ Home

Guilty pleasure album: Electric Mud

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: There are lots of compilation albums, but I suggest “His Best: 1947 to 1955”

(February 2024) Episode 550 is WILLIE DIXON, the most important person in the development of the Chicago Blues, along with Muddy Waters. His contributions are primarily as a songwriter, producer and double bass player (at Chess Records) rather than as a frontman performer. But he still recorded plenty of albums performing his own material. To my ear, his voice is not as commanding as many of his blues master peers. The list of songs he wrote is astounding, made famous especially by Waters, Bo Diddley, Howlin’s Wolf and Little Walter. Classic rock fans will recognize many of these songs, covered Led Zeppelin, Cream and the Rolling Stones among others.

Favorite album: I Am the Blues

Favorite song: I Ain’t Superstitious

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: Willie Dixon: The Chess Box is a concise compilation of most of his famous songs by others as well as by Dixon himself

(December 2022) Episode 458 is HOWLIN’ WOLF. Classic blues delivered in that singularly distinctive voice – all grit and gravel – make it a favorite of mine.  He learned his guitar style from master Charley Patton, bridging Delta blues and Chicago blues. So many of his songs are covered as standards. Big in sound and body – he was a giant of a man. Special mention to the turn to psychedelic blues of his late 60s albums.

Favorite album: The Howlin’ Wolf Album

Favorite song: Killing Floor

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: definitely yes even if you have a passing interest in the blues