Reddit mentions: The best contemporary blues music

I think one of my favorite players is Ronnie Earl, and my favorite album of his is "Ronnie Earl and The Broadcasters: Blues Guitar Virtuoso Live in Europe." Here's the link for the CD on Amazon. And here's the link at the iTunes Music Store.

Ronnie Earl is probably the most under rated, first rate blues guitar player playing today. His playing will really open up your ears. He has a "Hot Licks" DVD, recorded years ago (on VHS, no doubt) that is really good to watch. I can't say I stole any licks from it, but his discussion of playing soulfully and doing more with less is something I find really inspirational.

Another really good blues player that you may or may not of heard of is Tab Benoit, who is like the guitar mayor of New Orleans right about now. I really like his album "These Blues Are All Mine." Here is the CD at Amazon and here it is on iTunes. He plays with a really good mix of major and minor pentatonic scales, and combines them in a very lyrical and soulful way.

Give these two albums a listen and see what you think.

Do you want to do this right so you play blues, but so you know what you can get away with?

Listen to this then listen to everything on this compilation (not all guitar work necessarily, but still really important) (youtube or spotify), then go with the other stuff that other people are listing from that pre WWII era. It'll help you pick out the syncopated rhythms and the blue notes (microtonal notes, you have to bend to them with the guitar, or slide to them with a slide, usually).

Then you probably want Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, and that entire Chicago Blues scene. After you get there you probably want to take this modern, so The Yardbirds, then Hendrix, then SRV, then you're going to go backwards to Kokomo Arnold then to Jack White, then you're going to go Jelly Roll Morton in which case you probably know where you can go.

It doesn't have to be in this order, but that's the way that I would recommend it. Other than that Open tunings are helpful as are slides.

Sorry if this all was a lot, it's a neat sound, but it's easy to play, but hard to feel. This helps you with the later, or at least will get you on that path.

If you want some interesting jazz that is not your typical run-of-the-mill stuff, I would recommend an album called "Both Sides Now" - it's a little gem that hardly gets any attention. It's by Carli Muñoz (pianist) and Eddie Gomez (double bassist) and I would describe the music as traditional jazz infused with latin hip hop. I have owned this album for many years and never tire of listening to it.

You seem eclectic in your music tastes so I'll recommend two more.

I enjoy listening to Sade and recently picked up her Lovers Live album. Very impressed with both the audio recording quality on the CD and the vocals. She is hard to describe. Soul, R&B, blues, jazz all mixed into one.

My final recommendation is anything done by the Flobots.
Progressive rock band out of Colorado. They've got a funky rhythm and I love the messages in their music. Their first album (Fight With Tools) is perhaps my favorite.

Thanks for setting up the giveaway. Enjoy the music!

There is a DVD floating around titled "Live at the El Macambo" and it is absolutely amazing. It was recorded in 1983 (right in the middle of his sizable cocaine addiction) in a very very small club. Great sound and even better playing.

FWIW, I think this DVD is much better than Live at Montreaux. If you don't believe me, look at the Amazon reviews.

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|name|Eric Lindell|
|about artist|Eric Lindell is an American singer-songwriter, born in San Mateo, California in 1969. He is best-known for his 2008 album Low on Cash, Rich In Love and the single from it, "Lay Back Down." He has performed with New Orleans drummer Johnny Vidacovich and War's Harold Brown, who have also contributed to his albums. A self-described skate punk, Lindell grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. He began playing in bands at the age of 15. Among his early musical influences were Fishbone and Black Flag. ([more on last.fm](http://www.last.fm/music/Eric Lindell))|
|album|Change In the Weather, released Nov 2010|
|track|Casanova|
|images|album image, artist image|
|links|mp3 on amazon, album on amazon|
|tags|blues, bluesrock, rock, funk, soul|
|similar|Anders Osborne, Mofro, JJ Grey & Mofro, JJ Grey, The Revivalists|
|metrics|lastfm listeners: 22,298, lastfm plays: 209,854, youtube plays: 7,017, radd.it score: 6.5|


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Three that spring to mind are:

Johnny Winter with The Return of Johnny Guitar

John Campbell with A Man And His Blues

Freddie King with King Of The Blues

This covers a range of styles and some fantastic music.

And just as a wildcard here is some French blues - Johnny Hallyday with Le Coeur d'un Homme. Some great songs really well sung.

Enjoy the blues and keep exploring.

True true. I also dig this tribute album. Some pretty good Hendrix covers IMHO.

You may be interested in the soundtrack for "Paris, Texas" by Ry Cooder.

The guitar is similar. It also has a similar haunting quality. An excellent soundtrack (and a great film!)

Link to Amazon.

Definitely agree with you on Wolf. My two favorites right now are Magic Sam's Black Magic and Junior Wells Hoodoo Man Blues

I think i got :

Odetta did a version of Foggy Dew.

Cant find a stream of it but im sure it's around on torrents. Im fairly confident

Edit: Actually, there's a sample on amazon

1. Steven Curtis Chapman (Contempory Christian)
   
   
2. No idea who this is but it's stereotypical Southern Gospel
   
   
3. Gospel
   
   EDIT:
   Also, this is probably the best gospel album, ever.
   
   Also, I have no idea why Gospel is just Gospel and not "Southern Gospel", both genres originated from the South.