Best products from r/blues

We found 25 comments on r/blues discussing the most recommended products. We ran sentiment analysis on each of these comments to determine how redditors feel about different products. We found 57 products and ranked them based on the amount of positive reactions they received. Here are the top 20.

Top comments mentioning products on r/blues:

u/caffiend2 · 5 pointsr/blues

He changed mine too. I'll never forget the process of how I found out about Leadbelly. I was about 10 or 12 years old in the mid 1980s. At the time I was pretty heavily into Led Zeppelin. One day, I noticed that the track "Gallows Pole" on III was credited to someone named "Leadbelly".

My best friend's parents had a very diverse and interesting music collection (also how I found out about Ravi Shankar, but that's another story) which included a few compilation albums with some Leadbelly tracks - Midnight Special and Goodnight Irene being the ones that stand out in my memory. After that I was hooked on him - there was no going back.

A quick look at my iTunes library today shows I have since amassed 25 albums totaling 434 tracks of his songs (probably a few dupes in there). I also have a copy of the Paramount Pictures presentation of the Gordon Parks film "Leadbelly" - you can't bury a black legend like Leadbelly! It's actually a pretty fun film with a great soundtrack by Fred Karlin and has a very early appearance of Ernie Hudson (billed as Earnest L. Hudson).

I just wish that that film was widely available to buy/rent/stream/whatever so I could talk about it with other Leadbelly fans. Seems like it was buried because of the blaxploitation aspect of the film.

So, now I play the album Leadbelly Sings For Children for my 1 year old son. A new generation will come to know and love Leadbelly if I have anything to say about it!

u/mariox19 · 2 pointsr/blues

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.

u/Cosmic_American · 2 pointsr/blues

I have a goal similar to yours, I started with the blues but now I've gone in so many different directions I've become overwhelmed with all the music that I want to hear. The Blues is a great place to start because it influenced all of 20th century American music, it also shares a lot of the same roots with jazz and country as well so don't be surprised if you get side tracked from your goal, there's just an insane amount of good tunes out there waiting to be discovered.

Here's a really good book on the blues that gives a clear-eyed historical overview.

A few Blues artists I started with: Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Elmore James (I still haven't dug into the earliest recorded blues)

If you want to hear early rock I would check out: Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bo Diddley, Carl Perkins, Johhny Cash (Sun recordings) and Little Richard

I know you are looking more into blues and rock but you should also plan to listen to the Carter Family and Hank Williams, extremely instrumental in shaping the future of music.

u/RedRackhamsPleasure · 2 pointsr/blues

In my opinion, the tracks he recorded in 1930 are what makes him special. There's a night-and-day difference between the urgency and grit of those few songs and his "rediscovery" stuff. They're all available on Spotify. If you want a hard copy or want to ensure that you get the best sound quality, this Yazoo release of Skip James tracks weirdly enough has four of those Son House tracks tacked on and Yazoo is known for doing a good job of transferring from old 78s. Also, Skip James is life-changingly good. Listen to Cypress Blues or Hard Time Killing Floor.

Yazoo has another cool compilation that includes the very recently discovered Clarksdale Moan. It's pretty lucky that that one random record survived for 80 years!

u/Happyhubby · 1 pointr/blues

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.

u/YThatsSalty · 4 pointsr/blues

To get a feel, I prefer to 'Best Of' type albums as a starter to get an idea of an artist's niche, as well as to see how they change over time. Any list will be incomplete. That said, in no particular order:

Howlin' Wolf - Memphis Days

Willie Dixon - The Chess Box

Elmore James - any box set or 'best of' will suffice to get a feel for this master

Muddy Waters - Mad Love

Sonny Boy Williamson - His Best - be careful, SBW may change your life :)

u/syntaxevasion · 3 pointsr/blues

Okay, so I'm biased towards acoustic blues, especially 20s-30s stuff, but here are my suggestions.
Since many of the greatest blues artists recorded before full albums became popular, I'm a big advocate of compilations, since they highlight some of the lesser known artists who maybe didn't record a ton of stuff, compiled by people who REALLY know their shit. Yazoo Records and Document are both absolutely killer, and most of the Document stuff is on Spotify.

Speaking of Spotify, I dunno if you have it or not, but here's an old country blues playlist I made not long ago.

Here are some compilations that blew my mind when I was first getting into blues:
-The Best There Ever Was(Yazoo), Roots n' Blues: Retrospective 1925-1950. I'm sure your local library has this. Roots of Rock(featuring songs later interpreted by rock bands), I Can't Be Satisfied (All ladies all the time)

u/Starch · 0 pointsr/blues

For me, I got into some blues compilations with lots of different artists, something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Legends-Blues-Various-Artists/dp/B00000274Z/ref=ntt_mus_dp_dpt_1

After a while, you start to get a feel for what you like and what you don't like. Reading the liner notes helped put things into context. It's a whole lot easier these days with digital.

Good luck with the harp! I tried it myself but I never got good at it. As mentioned, Little Walter is a good place to start, as is Charlie Musselwhite.

u/AGuysBlues · 4 pointsr/blues

Good time to ask this as I've just finished Escaping the Delta. It talks about the creation of blues in general and has a heavy focus on Robert in some chapters. Very good read!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0060524278?pc_redir=1407876148&robot_redir=1

u/jhib456 · 3 pointsr/blues

Does he have the Eric Clapton plays Robert Johnson albums? They're some of my favorite :)

u/BrownHoundBlues · 2 pointsr/blues

Will do... Have you checked out Skydog yet? Its everything Duane Allman got his hands into. It's a pretty awesome compilation.

u/Balestar · 2 pointsr/blues

Me as well, If you haven't heard this album yet, it's an amazing listen.

u/tallpapab · 5 pointsr/blues

OK, I'll Start

B.B. King Blues All Around Me

Muddy Waters Can't be Satisfied

Robert Palmer Deep Blues

Alan Lomax Land Where the Blues Began

Robert Johnson Escaping the Delta

u/Brrdads · 1 pointr/blues

Buddy Guy's Chess Sessions, Albert King & Otis Rush's So Many Roads collection, and B.B. King's Singin' the Blues all spring to mind. Also, a good mix of starting stuff is the soundtrack from Scorsese's The Blues - A Musical Journey.

u/mitnavnerfrank · 2 pointsr/blues

If you want a broad introduction to the blues this collection by Martin Scorsese might be a good place to start http://www.amazon.com/Martin-Scorsese-Presents-The-Blues/dp/B0000A0VA1