You won’t believe who’s second. John Mayall is a true blues phenomenon – an extraordinarily dedicated carrier of the blues torch. He was one of the very first to introduce electric blues onto the English music scene. Indeed, Mayall’s legendary bands, including his famous Bluesbreakers, influenced blues musicians across the UK and Europe from 1963 onwards. Now nudging an impressive 83…
He says 1971. But what’s your golden year? I’ve often though 1971 was a bit of a high spot when it came to rock, but now it’s been confirmed: sort of. According to an English rock journalist with four decades in the music business under his belt, more influential albums were released in 1971 than…
In AC/DC era Australia, a Sydney band called the Ted Mulry Gang recorded a rocking version of a song first published in America in 1917. It’s had many manifestations through the last 100 years – one by Fats Domino around 1958 – but Ted Mulry’s 1976 version of “Darktown Strutters’ Ball” is rock & roll pop…
Open tuning. From Russia with love? Or from Liverpool? If you think blues is purely African American, think again. Influences on the genre come from many countries and many creeds. Take the first two blues guitar recordings ever made, for example, ‘Guitar Blues’ and ‘Guitar Rag’. These seminal instrumentals were recorded in New York in…
Updated August 6th 2019. A couple of posts ago (three years now, actually) I featured the mysterious Delta Blues photographer who goes only by the name Shein Die. Mr or Ms Die alerted me to a branch of blues called Bentonia Blues, named after the town of Bentonia in Mississippi. “It was started by Henry…
