Gift ideas for Casual and Serious Blues Fans…
With the Holidays around right around the corner I thought it would be a nice idea to suggest some music for the music fan on your shopping list. Some of these suggestions are for people who are casual listeners and some are for serious music fans. If you want to give something besides a gift certificate to iTunes or the local record store, check out the ideas in this post and if you have any questions feel free to contact me through the contact page on this site. Happy Holidays! -Big Mike
Note: I’d tried to stay away from “Greatest Hits” albums when possible. Although for the casual fan these types of albums are sometimes a nice place to start.
Electric Blues
Casual Music Fan Suggestions… Buddy Guy “Living Proof”, Elmore James & The Broom Dusters “Blues After Hours”, Freddie King “The Texas Cannonball”, Muddy Waters, James Cotton, & Johnny Winter “Breakin’ it Up, Breakin it Down”, Son Seals “The Son Seals Band”, Junior Wells “Hoodoo Man Blues”, B.B. King “Live At The Regal”, Howlin Wolf “The London Sessions”, Peter Green “The Best of Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac”
Serious Music Fan Suggestions… Jimmy Dawkins “Fast Fingers”, Albert Collins “The Complete Imperial Recordings”, Eddie Kirkland “It’s The Blues Man”, Billy Boy Arnold “More Blues on The South Side..” Guitar Slim “Sufferin Mind”, Hound Dog Taylor “Genuine House Rockin’ Music”, John Lee Hooker “Simply The Truth”, John Littlejohn “Slidin’ Home”, Lonesome Sundown “I’m A Mojo Man”, Robert Nighthawk “Bricks in My Pillow”, Big George & The Houserockers “Club Caravan”, Lazy Lester “I’m A Lover Not A Fighter”
Delta and Country Blues
Casual Music Fan Suggestions Robert Johnson “King of The Delta Blues Singers”, Mississippi John Hurt “The Complete Studio Recordings”, R.L. Burnside “Mississippi Hill County Blues”, Lightnin’ Hopkins “Lightnin’ and The Blues”, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee “Midnight Special” Blind Willie McTell “The Complete Recordings”, Blind Lemon Jefferson “The Best Of Blind Lemon Jefferson”, Son House “Original Delta Blues”, Robert Belfour “What’s Wrong With You?”,
Serious Music Fan Suggestions Joe Callicott “Ain’t A Gonna Lie To You”, Paul “Wine” Jones “Mule”, Junior Kimbrough “You Better Run”, Memphis Willie B. “Introducing Memphis Willie B.”, Charles Caldwell “Remember Me” Rev. KM Williams “When I Rise”,
Jump Blues!
Casual & Serious Music Fan Suggestions Wynonie “Mr. Blues” Harris “Rock Mr. Blues”, Louis Jordan & His Tympani Five “#1′s” Big Joe Turner “The Atlantic Years” , Willie Egan “Legendary Bob, Rhythm & Blues Classics, Tiny Bradshaw “Oh Well, Oh Well”, Smiley Lewis “Mama Don’t Like It!”
Amazing Voices
Casual & Serious Music Fan Suggestions Big Maybell “The Okeh Sessions”, Bobby “Blue” Bland “One Step From The Blues”, Big Mama Thornton “Big Mama Thornton with The Muddy Waters Blues Band 1966″ Aretha Franklin “The Delta Meets Detroit”, Ray Charles “Modern Sounds in Country & Western Music”, Sugar Pie DeSanto “Go-Go Power”, Koko Taylor “What It Takes: The Chess Years”
Gospel/Soul
Casual & Serious Music Fan Suggestions Mavis Staples “You Are Not Alone”, The Blind Boys Of Alabama “Spirit Of The Century”, Solomon Burke “The Atlantic Years”, The Fairfield Four “The Bells Are Tolling”,
Great Blues Compilations
Casual Music Fan Suggestions Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues Series
Serious Music Fan Suggestions… “Roy Milton’s “Miltone Records Story”, “Sun Records 25 Rare Blues Classics” , ”The Bob Geddins Blues Legacy”, “Violin, Sing The Blues For Me: African-American Fiddlers 1926-1949″