Showing posts with label Muddy Waters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Muddy Waters. Show all posts

Monday, March 16, 2026

The Top 100 Blues Acts of All Time

Blues:

Top 100 Acts

These are the top 100 blues acts of all time as determined by aggregating 50 best-of lists focused on blues artists. Click on names to see their entries in the Dave’s Music Database Music Makers Encyclopedia.

See other lists of Acts/Music Makers by Genre.

1. Robert Johnson
2. Muddy Waters
3. B.B. King
4. Howlin’ Wolf
5. John Lee Hooker
6. Stevie Ray Vaughan
7. Albert King
8. Buddy Guy
9. Eric Clapton
10. Bessie Smith


Robert Johnson

11. T-Bone Walker
12. Leadbelly
13. Son House
14. Lightnin’ Hopkins
15. Freddie King
16. Etta James
17. Elmore James
18. Jimi Hendrix
19. Willie Dixon
20. Ma Rainey


Muddy Waters

21. Jimmy Reed

22. Ray Charles
23. Blind Lemon Jefferson
24. Johnny Winter
25. Big Mama Thornton
26. John Mayall
27. Charley Patton
28. Big Bill Broonzy
29. Koko Taylor
30. Little Walter


John Lee Hooker

31. Billie Holiday
32. Skip James
33. Sister Rosetta Tharpe
34. Albert Collins
35. Mississippi John Hurt
36. Bonnie Raitt
37. Otis Rush
38. Janis Joplin
39. Joe Bonamassa
40. Lonnie Johnson


Howlin’ Wolf

41. W.C. Handy
42. Mamie Smith
43. Taj Mahal
44. Memphis Minnie
45. Bobby “Blue” Bland
46. Sonny Boy Williamson #2 (Rice Miller)
47. Rory Gallagher
48. Peter Green
49. Louis Jordan
50. Reverend Gary Davis


B.B. King

51. Sonny Boy Williamson #1 (John Lee Williamson)
52. Robert Cray
53. Paul Butterfield
54. Blind Willie Johnson
55. Big Joe Turner
56. Magic Sam
57. Blind Willie McTell
58. Bukka White
59. Junior Wells
60. Tampa Red


Son House

61. Professor Longhair
62. Tommy Johnson
63. Otis Spann
64. Slim Harpo
65. Charles Brown
66. Ruth Brown
67. R.L. Burnside
68. Chuck Berry
69. Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup
70. Mike Bloomfield


Stevie Ray Vaughan

71. Mississippi Fred McDowell
72. Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown
73. Brownie McGhee
74. Roosevelt Sykes
75. Luther Allison
76. Blind Boy Fuller
77. Leroy Carr
78. Victoria Spivey
79. Big Joe Williams
80. Little Milton


Bessie Smith

81. Arthur “Blind Blake” Phelps
82. J.B. Lenoir
83. Gary Moore
84. Duane Allman
85. John Mayer
86. Keb’ Mo’
87. Wynonie Harris
88. Robert Nighthawk
89. Ida Cox
90. Bo Diddley


Leadbelly

91. Son Seals
92. Hound Dog Taylor
93. Sonny Terry
94. J.B. Hutto
95. Susan Tedeschi
96. Shemekia Copeland
97. Roy Buchanan
98. Dinah Washington
99. Gus Cannon
100. Fats Domino


Buddy Guy

Resources/Related Links:

First posted 7/16/2011; last updated 3/16/2026.




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Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Top 50 Blues Albums of All Time

Blues:

The Top 50 Albums

This list started as a post on the DMDB Facebook page (Top 10 Blues and Blues/Rock Albums) on 2/23/2010. The list has since been expanded by aggregating more than 50 lists focused on blues and blues/rock albums. This list focuses on those albums which scored higher on the blues lists. Albums which made three or more lists were then sorted by overall status in Dave’s Music Database.

Check out other best-of-genre/category lists here.

1. Robert Johnson The Complete Recordings (compilation: 1936-37, released 1990)
2. Howlin’ Wolf Moanin’ in the Moonlight/Howlin’ Wolf (aka ‘The Rockin’ Chair Album’) (compilations: 1951-62, released in 1959 and 1962) *
3. Bessie Smith The Essential (compilation: 1923-1933, released 1997)
4. B.B. King Live at the Regal (live, 1964)
5. John Mayall & the Blues Breakers Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton (1966)
6. Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble Texas Flood (1983)
7. Charlie Patton Founder of the Delta Blues (compilation: 1929-34, released 1969)
8. Muddy Waters At Newport (live, 1960)
9. Robert Cray Strong Persuader (1986)
10. Albert King Born Under a Bad Sign (1967)

11. Eric Clapton: From the Cradle (1994)
12. Bobby “Blue” Bland Two Steps from the Blues (1956-60)
13. Willie Dixon/various artists The Chess Box (compilation: 1951-69, released 1988)
14. Elmore James The Sky Is Crying – The History of (compilation: 1951-63, released 1993)
15. Junior Wells Hoodoo Man Blues (1965)
16. Paul Butterfield Blues Band Paul Butterfield Blues Band (1965)
17. Muddy Waters The Chess Box (compilation: 1947-72 released 1989)
18. Skip James The Complete Early Recordings (compilation: 1930-31, released 1994)
19. Howlin’ Wolf His Best: The Chess 50th Anniversary Collection (compilation: 1951-64, released 1997)
20. Little Walter His Best: The Chess 50th Anniversary Collection (compilation: 1952-60, released 1997)

21. Howlin’ Wolf The Chess Box (compilation: 1951-73, released 1991)
22. Magic Sam West Side Soul (1967)
23. Albert Collins Ice Pickin’ (1978)
24. B.B. King Live in Cook County Jail (live: 1970, released 1971)
25. B.B. King His Definitive Greatest Hits (compilation: 1951-93, released 1999)
26. Etta James At Last (1961)
27. Muddy Waters Folk Singer (1964)
28. Muddy Waters Hard Again (1977)
29. Muddy Waters The Anthology (compilation: 1947-72, released 2001)
30. John Lee Hooker The Legendary Modern Recordings (compilation: 1948-54, released 1993)

31. Memphis Minnie Bumble Bee: The Essential Recordings (compilation: 1929-41, released 1997)
32. B.B. King Singin’ the Blues (1956)
33. Albert King Live Wire/Blues Power (1968)
34. T-Bone Walker T-Bone Blues (1959)
35. Blind Lemon Jefferson King of the Country Blues (compilation: 1926-29, released 1990)
36. Gary Moore Still Got the Blues (1990)
37. Robert Cray Bad Influence (1983)
38. Sonny Boy Williamson II Down and Out Blues (1959)
39. Blind Lemon Jefferson Best of (compilation, released 2000)
40. Gus Cannon’s Jug Stompers Best of (compilation: 1928-30, released 2001)

41. Mississippi Fred McDowell I Do Not Play No Rock and Roll (1969)
42. Huddie “Leadbelly” Ledbetter King of the 12-String Guitar (recorded 1935, released 1991)
43. Albert Collins with Robert Cray & Johnny Copeland Showdown! (1985)
44. Freddy King Let’s Hide Away and Dance (1961)
45. Otis Spann Is the Blues (1960)
46. Willie Dixon I Am the Blues (1970)
47. Magic Sam Black Magic (1968)
48. Hound Dog Taylor & the Houserockers Hound Dog Taylor & the Houserockers (1971)
49. Sonny Boy Williamson II His Best (compilation: 1955-65, released 1986)
50. Freddy King Freddy King Sings (1961)

* These were initially released as two separate albums, but are now typically packaged together.

Resources and Related Links:

Lists Focused on Blues Albums:

First posted 9/10/2018; last updated 3/19/2024.

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Monday, September 11, 2023

Top 100 Blues Songs of All Time

Blues:

Top 100 Songs

This list was compiled by aggregating 38 lists focused on blues songs. The top 100 songs according to the aggregate of the lists were then re-ranked based on overall points in Dave’s Music Database. The aggregated list and the Dave’s Music Database rankings were then average together for the final result.

In most cases, only one version of a song is listed below. Exceptions include Robert Johnson’s “I Believe I’ll Dust My Broom” and its even more iconic cover by Elmore James as well as Robert Johnson’s “Crossroads” and its classic-rock cover by Cream.

Click here to see other genre-specific song lists.

1. Muddy Waters “Mannish Boy” (1955)
2. John Lee Hooker “Boogie Chillen” (1949)
3. B.B. King “The Thrill Is Gone” (1969)
4. Muddy Waters “Hoochie Coochie Man” (1954)
5. Howlin’ Wolf “Smokestack Lightning” (1956)
6. Robert Johnson “Cross Road Blues (aka ‘Crossroads’)” (1936)
7. T-Bone Walker “Call It Stormy Monday” (1948)
8. John Lee Hooker “Boom Boom” (1962)
9. Robert Johnson “Hell Hound on My Trail” (1937)
10. Elmore James “I Believe I’ll Dust My Broom” (1952)

11. Albert King “Born Under a Bad Sign” (1967)
12. Robert Johnson “Sweet Home Chicago” (1936)
13. Bessie Smith & Jimmie Cox “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” (1929)
14. Elmore James “The Sky Is Crying” (1960)
15. Little Walter “Juke” (1952)
16. Clarence “Pine Top” Smith “Pine Top’s Boogie Woogie” (1929)
17. Muddy Waters “Got My Mojo Working” (1956)
18. Big Joe Williams “Baby Please Don’t Go” (1941)
19. Sonny Boy Williamson #1 “Good Morning Little School” (1937)
20. Howlin’ Wolf “How Many More Years” (1951)

21. Guitar Slim “The Things That I Used to Do” (1954)
22. Otis Rush “I Can’t Quit You Baby” (1956)
23. Etta James “At Last” (1960)
24. Mamie Smith “Crazy Blues” (1920)
25. The Jimi Hendrix Experience “Red House” (1967)
26. Blind Willie McTell “Statesboro Blues” (1927)
27. Bo Diddley “I’m a Man” (1955)
28. Canned Heat “On the Road Again” (1968)
29. Big Bill Broonzy “Key to the Highway” (1941)
30. Robert Johnson “Come on in My Kitchen” (1937)

31. Muddy Waters “Rollin’ Stone” (1950)
32. Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble “Pride and Joy” (1983)
33. Muddy Waters “I Can’t Be Satisfied” (1948)
34. Little Walter “My Babe” (1955)
35. Robert Johnson “Love in Vain” (1937)
36. Charley Patton “Pony Blues” (1929)
37. Big Mama Thornton “Hound Dog” (1953)
38. Cream “Crossroads” (live, 1969)
39. B.B. King “Every Day I Have the Blues” (1955)
40. Gary Moore “Still Got the Blues” (1990)

41. Muddy Waters “I Just Want to Make Love to You” (1954)
42. Lowell Fulson “Reconsider Baby” (1954)
43. Roosevelt Sykes “Forty Four Blues” (1929)
44. Freddie King “Hideaway” (1961)
45. Howlin’ Wolf “Spoonful” (1960)
46. Elmore James “Shake Your Moneymaker” (1961)
47. Slim Harpo “I’m a King Bee” (1957)
48. Ma Rainey “See See Rider Blues” (1925)
49. The Mississippi Sheiks “Sitting on Top of the World” (1930)
50. Louis Jordan “Let the Good Times Roll” (1946)

51. Leroy Carr with Scrapper Blackwell “How Long, How Long Blues” (1928)
52. Blind Willie Johnson “Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground” (1928)
53. Magic Sam “All Your Love” (1957)
54. Koko Taylor “Wang Dang Doodle” (1965)
55. Blind Lemon Jefferson “Black Snake Moan” (1927)
56. Freddie King “I’m Tore Down” (1961)
57. Robert Petway “Catfish Blues” (1941)
58. Junior Wells with Buddy Guy “Messin’ with the Kid” (1970)
59. Wilson Pickett “Mustang Sally” (1966)
60. Blind Lemon Jefferson “Matchbox Blues” (1927)

61. Clarence Carter “Slip Away” (1968)
62. B.B. King “Three O’Clock Blues” (1951)
63. John Lee Hooker “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer” (1966)
64. Howlin’ Wolf “The Killing Floor” (1964)
65. Son House “Death Letter Blues” (1930)
66. Robert Johnson “I Believe I’ll Dust My Broom” (1936)
67. Big Mama Thornton “Ball and Chain” (1968)
68. Bobby “Blue” Bland “Further on Up the Road” (1957)
69. W.C. Handy “The Memphis Blues” (1912)
70. Jimmy Reed “Big Boss Man” (1960)

71. Buddy Guy “Damn Right, I’ve Got the Blues” (1991)
72. Skip James “Devil Got My Woman” (1931)
73. Fleetwood Mac “Black Magic Woman” (1968)
74. Howlin’ Wolf “The Little Red Rooster” (1961)
75. Robert Johnson “Me and the Devil Blues” (1937)
76. Canned Heat “Going Up the Country” (1968)
77. Eddie Boyd “Five Long Years” (1952)
78. Sonny Boy Williamson II “Help Me” (1963)
79. Louis Jordan “I Know What You’re Putting Down” (1946)
80. T-Bone Walker “Mean Old World” (1942)

81. John Lee Hooker “I’m in the Mood” (1951)
82. Etta James “I’d Rather Go Blind” (1968)
83. Robert Johnson “Stop Breakin’ Down” (1937)
84. Tampa Red with Georgia Tom “It’s Tight Like That” (1928)
85. Albert Collins “If Trouble Was Money” (1984)
86. Elmore James “One Way Out” (1961)
87. Big Joe Williams “Blues on Highway 49” (1935)
88. Elmore James “It Hurts Me Too” (1965)
89. Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble “Texas Flood” (1983)
90. Howlin’ Wolf “I Ain’t Superstitious” (1961)

91. The Paul Butterfield Blues Band “Born in Chicago” (1965)
92. Memphis Slim “Messin’ Around” (1948)
93. Hound Dog Taylor “Give Me Back My Wig” (1971)
94. Howlin’ Wolf “Back Door Man” (1960)
95. B.B. King “How Blue Can You Get?” (1963)
96. Sonny Boy Williamson II “Eyesight to the Blind” (1951)
97. Robert Johnson “Travelling Riverside Blues” (1937)
98. Roy Brown “Hard Luck Blues” (1950)
99. Son House “Preachin’ Blues” (1930)
100. Muddy Waters “You Shook Me” (1962)

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First posted 8/19/2015; last updated 9/11/2023.

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Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Blues Hall of Fame: Song Inductees, 1983-2023

Blues Hall of Fame:

Song Inductees, 1983-2023

The Blues Hall of Fame, operated by the Blues Foundation, officially opened its doors in Memphis, Tennessee in 2015. However, they started in 1980 honoring performers, non-performers, literature, albums, and “Classics of Blues Recording: Singles or Album Tracks.” This page lists those songs which have been inducted since the first year in 1983 through the present.

Check other lists based on charts, sales, and airplay here.

Year of Induction: Performer “Song” (year released)

A

  • 2016: Billy Boy Arnold “I Wish You Would” (1955)
  • 2014: Kokomo Arnold “Milk Cow Blues” (1934)

B

  • 2022: Baby Face Leroy Trio “Rollin’ and Tumblin’” (1950)
  • 2022: Bobby "Blue" Bland “Further on Up the Road” (1957)
  • 2018: Booker T. & the MG's “Green Onions” (1962)
  • 2011: Eddie Boyd “Five Long Years” (1952)
  • 1991: Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats “Rocket 88” (1951)
  • 2010: Big Bill Broonzy “Key to the Highway” (1941)
  • 1989: Charles Brown “Driftin' Blues” (1945)
  • 2005: Charles Brown “Black Night” (1951)
  • 2016: Charles Brown with Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers “Merry Christmas Baby” (1947)
  • 2022: Roy Brown & His Orchestra “Good Rockin' Tonight” (1948)
  • 2020: Ruth Brown “Mama He Treats Your Daughter Mean” (1953)
  • 2020: Willie Brown “Future Blues” (1930)

C

  • 1988: Leroy Carr “How Long, How Long Blues” (1928)
  • 2016: Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell “Blues Before Sunrise” (1934)
  • 2019: Ray Charles “I Gotta Woman (aka "I've Got a Woman")” (1955)
  • 2020: Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup “That’s All Right, Mama” (1946)

D-E

  • 1994: Larry Davis “Texas Flood” (1958)
  • 2017: Bo Diddley “Bo Diddley” (1955)
  • 2018: Bo Diddley “I’m a Man” (1955)
  • 2006: Bill Doggett “Honky Tonk (Parts 1 & 2)” (1956)

F-G

  • 1993: Lowell Fulson “Reconsider Baby” (1954)
  • 2023: Lowell Fulson “Black Nights” (1965)

H-I

  • 2017: W.C. Handy “Father of the Blues” (1941)
  • 1997: Slim Harpo “Baby Scratch My Back” (1966)
  • 2014: Erskine Hawkins “After Hours” (1940)
  • 2020: Bertha “Chippie” Hill “Trouble in Mind” (1926)
  • 2000: Z.Z. Hill “Down Home Blues” (1981)
  • 1985: John Lee Hooker “Boogie Chillen” (1949)
  • 2009: John Lee Hooker “Boom Boom” (1962)
  • 2023: Lightnin' Hopkins “Mojo Hand” (1960)
  • 2007: Son House “Death Letter Blues” (1965)
  • 2017: Son House “Preachin’ Blues” (1930)
  • 2023: Son House “My Black Mama” (1930)
  • 1985: Howlin' Wolf “Smokestack Lightning” (1956)
  • 1991: Howlin' Wolf “The Killing Floor” (1964)
  • 2010: Howlin' Wolf “Spoonful” (1960)
  • 2013: Howlin' Wolf “How Many More Years” (1951)
  • 2017: Howlin' Wolf “I Ain’t Superstitious” (1962)
  • 2023: Howlin' Wolf “Little Red Rooster” (1961)

J

  • 1986: Little Walter Jacobs & His Night Cats “Juke” (1952)
  • 2008: Little Walter Jacobs “My Babe” (1955)
  • 1983: Elmore James “I Believe I'll Dust My Broom” (1952)
  • 2019: Elmore James “Shake Your Moneymaker” (1961)
  • 1991, 2019: Elmore James “The Sky Is Crying” (1960)
  • 2006: Skip James “Devil Got My Woman” (1931)
  • 2011: Skip James “Hard Time Killin’ Floor Blues” (1931)
  • 2010: Blind Lemon Jefferson “Matchbox Blues” (1927)
  • 2010: Little Willie John “Fever” (1956)
  • 1999: Blind Willie Johnson “Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground” (1928)
  • 1983: Robert Johnson “Hell Hound on My Trail” (1937)
  • 1983: Robert Johnson “Sweet Home Chicago” (1936)
  • 1986: Robert Johnson “Cross Road Blues (aka ‘Crossroads’)” (1936)
  • 1989: Robert Johnson “Come on in My Kitchen” (1936)
  • 1990: Robert Johnson “Terraplane Blues” (1936)
  • 2011: Robert Johnson “A Love in Vain” (1937)
  • 1987: Tommy Johnson “Big Road Blues” (1928)
  • 2013: Tommy Johnson “Canned Heat Blues” (1928)
  • 1984: Eddie "Guitar Slim" Jones “The Things That I Used to Do” (1954)
  • 2009: Louis Jordan “Caldonia Boogie” (1945)
  • 2013: Louis Jordan “Let the Good Times Roll” (1946)

K-L

  • 1988: Albert King “Born Under a Bad Sign” (1967)
  • 2017: Albert King “I’ll Play the Blues for You” (1972)
  • 2018: Albert King “Crosscut Saw” (1966)
  • 1985: B.B. King “The Thrill Is Gone” (1969)
  • 2019: B.B. King “Every Day I Have the Blues” (1955)
  • 2020: B.B. King “Three O’Clock Blues” (1951)
  • 2022: B.B. King “Rock Me Baby” (1964)
  • 2007: Freddie King “Hideaway” (1961)
  • 2023: Freddie King “I’m Tore Down” (1961)

M-N

  • 2012: Magic Sam “All Your Love” (1957)
  • 1987: Percy Mayfield “Please Send Me Someone to Love” (1950)
  • 1992: Blind Willie McTell “Statesboro Blues” (1928)
  • 2013: Memphis Minnie “Me and My Chauffeur Blues” (1941)
  • 1983: Big Maceo Merriweather “Worried Life Blues” (1941)
  • 2009: The Mississippi Sheiks “Sitting on Top of the World” (1930)
  • 2007: Robert Nighthawk “Black Angel Blues” (1949)

O-P

  • 2002: St. Louis Jimmy Oden “Goin’ Down Slow” (1941)
  • 2013: Little Junior Parker “Mystery Train” (1953)
  • 1988: Charley Patton “Pony Blues” (1929)
  • 2014: Charley Patton “High Water Everywhere” (1930)
  • 2014: Robert Petway “Catfish Blues” (1941)

Q-R

  • 2018: Ma Rainey “See See Rider Blues” (1925)
  • 1990: Jimmy Reed “Big Boss Man” (1961)
  • 2004: Jimmy Reed “Baby What You Want Me to Do” (1960)
  • 2016: Jimmy Rogers “That's All Right” (1950)
  • 1994: Otis Rush “I Can't Quit You Baby” (1956)
  • 2008: Otis Rush “Double Trouble” (1958)
  • 2010: Otis Rush “All Your Love (I Miss Loving)” (1958)

S

  • 2008: Bessie Smith “Back Water Blues” (1927)
  • 2019: Bessie Smith & Louis Armstrong “St. Louis Blues” (1925)
  • 2012: Clarence "Pine Top" Smith “Pine Top’s Boogie Woogie” (1929)
  • 2016: Mamie Smith & Her Jazz Hounds “Crazy Blues” (1920)

T-U-V

  • 2012: Tampa Red “It Hurts Me Too (When Things Go Wrong)” (1940)
  • 2014: Tampa Red & Georgia Tom “It's Tight Like That” (1928)
  • 1995: Koko Taylor “Wang Dang Doodle” (1966)
  • 2003: Little Johnny Taylor “Part Time Love” (1963)
  • 2006: Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton “Hound Dog” (1953)
  • 2017: Tommy Tucker “Hi-Heel Sneakers” (1964)
  • 2001: Big Joe Turner “Shake, Rattle and Roll” (1954)
  • 2018: Joe Turner & Pete Johnson “Roll 'Em Pete” (1938)

W-X-Y-Z

  • 1983: T-Bone Walker “Call It Stormy Monday” (1947)
  • 1984: Muddy Waters “Hoochie Coochie Man” (1954)
  • 1984: Muddy Waters “Got My Mojo Working” (1957)
  • 1986: Muddy Waters “Mannish Boy” (1955)
  • 1989: Muddy Waters “Long Distance Call” (1951)
  • 2019: Muddy Waters “Rollin' Stone” (1950)
  • 1998: Junior Wells “Messin' with the Kid” (1960)
  • 1992: Big Joe Williams “Baby Please Don't Go” (1935)
  • 1990: Sonny Boy Williamson (#1) “Good Morning Little School Girl” (1937)
  • 1987: Sonny Boy Williamson (#2) “Help Me” (1963)
  • 1991: Sonny Boy Williamson (#2) “Nine Below Zero” (1951)
  • 1996: Sonny Boy Williamson (#2) “Don't Start Me Talkin'“ (1955)
  • 2022: Sonny Boy Williamson (#2) “Eyesight to the Blind” (1951)
  • 2011: Jimmy Witherspoon “Ain't Nobody's Business” (1949)

Resources/Related Links:

First posted 5/10/2023; last updated 9/11/2023.

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Friday, July 22, 2022

Dave's Music Database Hall of Fame: Song Inductees (July 2022)

Originally posted July 22, 2022.

In honor of the 10th anniversary of the DMDB blog on January 22, 2019, Dave’s Music Database launched its own Hall of Fame. This is the 15th set of song inductees. These songs all appear in the Dave’s Music Database list of the Top 100 Blues Songs and have been inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

John Lee Hooker “Boogie Chillen’” (1949)

Inducted July 2022 as “Blues Songs”

John Lee Hooker “was born in 1917 at ground zero of the blues, Clarksdale, Mississippi.” TC He learned his playing style from his stepfather, Will Moore. He said of his first release, “Boogie Chillen,” that it was a guitar boogie like what his father played down south. BH It was the first “down-home electric blues record” to top the R&B charts. BH Read more.

John Lee Hooker “Boom Boom” (1962)

Inducted July 2022 as “Blues Songs”

Blues great John Lee Hooker first found success with 1949’s “Boogie Chillen,” a #1 R&B hit recorded at his first recording session. However, it wasn’t until 1962’s “Boom Boom” – a song on which he was accompanied by the famed Motown session men known as the Funk Brothers – that Hooker had his sole entry on the pop charts. It would also be his final appearance on the R&B charts. It was inspired by Luilla, a bartender at the Apex Bar in Detroit where Hooker used to play. She’d say, “Boom Boom, you’re late again” when he arrived. As he said, “She gave me a song but she didn’t know it.” SF Read more.

Howlin Wolf “Smokestack Lightnin’” (1956)

Inducted July 2022 as “Blues Songs”

Chester Arthur Burnett was nicknamed “Wolf” by his maternal grandmother; a title he would more than grow into with his menacing adult frame of 6’ 3” and 300 pounds and a voice which made it sound “like he subsisted on a diet of broken glass…washed down…with kerosene.” SS He first recorded “Smokestack Lightning” as “Crying at Daybreak” in 1951, but it was a song he’d performed since the early 1930s. Lightning finally struck for him when the re-recorded version hit the top 10 on the R&B charts in 1956. Read more.

Robert Johnson “Cross Road Blues” (1936)

Inducted July 2022 as “Blues Songs”

Robert Johnson has often been called “The Father of the Blues.” His most important song may well be “Cross Road Blues,” not just because it became a staple for Eric Clapton but it promotes one of the greatest legends in rock and roll. According to the legend, Johnson acquired masterful guitar playing skills overnight, supposedly because he went to the crossroads (an intersection of rural roads) and sold his soul to the Devil. However, Johnson “sings nary a word about devil-dealing” BH in “Cross Road Blues;” rather he is trying unsuccessfully to hitch a ride at the crossroads. Read more.

Robert Johnson “Hell Hound on My Trail” (1937)

Inducted July 2022 as “Blues Songs”

Blues historian Ted Gioia said “Hell Hound on My Trail” might be Johnson’s greatest work. WK This is a showcase for “a disturbing vision of a blues poet haunted by spirits, doomed to die before he would ever see the fruits of an alleged deal with the devil.” BH Johnson proved to be “a master synthesizer, pulling together bits and pieces of existing material and infusing them with something entirely his own.” SS Read more.

B.B. King “The Thrill Is Gone” (1969)

Inducted July 2022 as “Blues Songs”

Legendary blues singer and guitarist B.B. King reached the R&B charts 76 times from 1951 to 1992, including four chart-toppers early in his career. While he had a half dozen more successful R&B chart entries than “The Thrill Is Gone” it was his biggest hit on the Billboard Hot 10. The song is a cover of a 1951 slow, blues ballad by Roy Hawkins but in King’s hands it became “a modern blues epic.” SS Rock critic Dave Marsh speculated that it might be “the last great blues record.” DM Read more.

Clarence “Pine Top” Smith “Pine Top’s Boogie Woogie” (1929)

Inducted July 2022 as “Blues Songs”

This “rhythmical, driving piano tune” SS is credited “with laying the foundation for the boogie woogie craze.” BH The form is marked by “a bass melody…repeated over and over while the upper voice melody and chord structure change above it.” TY2 Clarence “Pine Top” Smith started playing “Pine Top’s Boogie Woogie” at rent-parties in the black ghettos of Chicago. TY2 He took the term “boogie woogie” from his background in dance. SS Read more.

T-Bone Walker “Call It Stormy Monday” (1947)

Inducted July 2022 as “Blues Songs”

Aaron Thibeaux “T-Bone” Walker is often called “the father of electric blues.” SS He “deeply influenced virtually every guitarist during the decade following World War II” SS with his blend of blues and jazz guitar. UP It was “Call It Stormy Monday” “that made him a legend.” SS It is “one of the most influential records not only in blues history, but in guitar history.” BH “It became a song that virtually every blues band had to know; in fact, it was also required learning for countless jazz, soul, pop, and rock performers who may have had no other blues songs in their entire repertoires.” BH Read more.

Muddy Waters “Hoochie Coochie Man” (1954)

Inducted July 2022 as “Blues Songs”

Music historian Steve Sullivan called Muddy Waters “the mighty rock upon which the foundation of postwar Chicago blues was constructed” SS and “Hoochie Coochie Man” was his “defining song.” SS It was the first of many Willie Dixon songs recorded by Waters. It was the biggest hit of Waters’ career, reaching #3 on the R&B chart, but “its influence on rock music in general is incalculable.” LW Read more.

Bo Diddley “I’m a Man” / Muddy Waters “Mannish Boy” (1955)

Inducted July 2022 as “Blues Songs”

“I’m a Man” was the first song recorded by Bo Diddley and it became the B-side of his debut single, the eponymous “Bo Diddley” which topped the R&B chart. The song was inspired by “Hoochie Coochie Man” by Muddy Waters, who then recorded “Mannish Boy” as a remake/answer song, mocking Diddley’s younger age. “Coming from Waters, a mature adult figure with a voice that booms like God’s, virtually the same words are far more leering and imposing. Waters isn’t kidding around; he is a man and his sexual boasts and demands aren’t fantasies, they’re real.” DM Read more.
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Tuesday, March 22, 2022

Dave's Music Database Hall of Fame: Music Maker Inductees (March 2022)

Top 10 Blues Acts

Originally posted 3/22/2022.

January 22, 2019 marked the 10-year anniversary of the DMDB blog! To honor that, Dave’s Music Database announced its own Hall of Fame. This thirteenth class of music maker inductees is comprised of the top 10 blues acts of all time (see the full list here). These are the top 10 from that list, minus previous inductees Eric Clapton and Bessie Smith.

See the full list of music maker inductees here.

Buddy Guy (1936-)

Inducted March 2022 as a “Top 10 Blues Act”

Blues guitarist born in Lettsworth, Louisiana. Blues Hall of Fame and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee. Also a recipient of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a Kennedy Center Honoree. “Damn Right I’ve Got the Blues” ranks as one of the top 100 blues songs of all time and author Tom Moon features the album of the same name in his book 1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. Read more.

John Lee Hooker (1917-2001)

Inducted March 2022 as a “Top 10 Blues Act”

Blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist born in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Blues Hall of Fame and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee. Also a recipient of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and Rhythm & Blues Foundation Pioneer Award . He charted nine times on the R&B chart, reaching #1 with “Boogie Chillen’” and “I’m in the Mood.” The former has been inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame, Grammy Hall of Fame (as has “Boom Boom”), and National Recording Registry. His compilation The Legendary Modern Recordings ranks as one of the top 50 blues albums and The Folklore of John Lee Hooker was Mojo magazine’s Album of the Year. Read more.

Howlin’ Wolf (1910-1976)

Inducted March 2022 as a “Top 10 Blues Act”

Blues singer and guitarist born in White Station, Mississippi. Blues Hall of Fame and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee. He reached the top 10 four times on the R&B chart, including the songs “How Many More Years” and “Smokestack Lightning,” which are 2 of his 6 songs featured in the Blues Hall of Fame. His compilations Moanin’ in the Moonlight and Howlin' Wolf (aka ‘The Rockin' Chair Album’) are in the top 1000 albums of all time. Read more.

Robert Johnson (1911-1938)

Inducted March 2022 as a “Top 10 Blues Act”

Blues singer and guitarist born in Hazlehurst, Mississippi. Inductee in the Blues Hall of Fame, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, R&B Hall of Fame, and Downbeat Jazz Hall of Fame. Also a recipient of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. “Cross Road Blues” ranks in the the top 1% of all time. It’s one of six songs in the Blues Hall of Fame, including “Sweet Home Chicago” (both of which are in the Grammy Hall of Fame). Two of the others are “Hell Hound on My Trail” and “A Love in Vain.” Those four are also in the the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s top 500 songs of all time. The Complete Recordings is featured in the DMDB book The Top 100 Albums of the 20th Century. Read more.

Albert King (1923-1992)

Inducted March 2022 as a “Top 10 Blues Act”

Blues guitarist born in Indianola, Mississippi. Blues Hall of Fame and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee. He reached the R&B chart 19 times. “Crosscut Saw,” “Born Under a Bad Sign,” and “I’ll Play the Blues for You” are all in the Blues Hall of Fame. His album Born Under a Bad Sign ranks in the top 1% of all time and is in the Blues Hall of Fame, Grammy Hall of Fame, and the National Recording Registry. Read more.

B.B. King (1925-2015)

Inducted March 2022 as a “Top 10 Blues Act”

Blues singer and guitarist born it Itta Bena, Mississippi. Inductee in the Blues Hall of Fame, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame R&B Hall of Fame, Big Band/Jazz Hall of Fame, and Downbeat Jazz Hall of Fame. Also a recipient of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and Kennedy Center Honoree. He reached the R&B chart 76 times, including #1 four times. One of those was “Three O’Clock Blues,” which was also inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame, as was “Every Day I Have the Blues” and “The Thrill Is Gone.” The latter three are also in the Grammy Hall of Fame. Live at the Regal is one of the top 1000 albums of all time. It’s also in the Blues Hall of Fame, Grammy Hall of Fame, and the National Recording Registry. Read more.

Stevie Ray Vaugahn (1954-1990)

Inducted March 2022 as a “Top 10 Blues Act”

Blues-rock guitarist and singer born in Dallas, Texas. Blues Hall of Fame and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee. He reached the mainstream rock chart 19 times, including #1 with “Crossfire.” “Texas Flood” and “Pride and Joy” rank in the DMDB’s top 100 blues songs of all time. The latter is also in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s top 500 songs of all time. Texas Flood is one of the top 1000 albums of all time and is in the Grammy Hall of Fame. Read more.

Muddy Waters (1913-1983)

Inducted March 2022 as a “Top 10 Blues Act”

Blues singer, guitarist, and harmonica player born in Rolling Fork, Mississippi. Inductee in the Blues Hall of Fame, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, R&B Hall of Fame, and Downbeat Jazz Hall of Fame. Also a recipient of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. He reached the top 10 on the R&B charts 14 times. He has six songs in the the Blues Hall of Fame and four in the Grammy Hall of Fame; “Rollin’ Stone,” “Hoochie Coochie Man,” and “Got My Mojo Working” are in both. At Newport is one of the top 1000 albums of all time. Read more.
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Sunday, August 22, 2021

Dave's Music Database Hall of Fame: Albums (Aug. 2021)

Originally posted 8/22/2021.

January 22, 2019 marked the 10-year anniversary of the DMDB blog. To honor that, Dave’s Music Database announced its own Hall of Fame. This month marks the eleventh group of album inductees. These are amongst the top twenty blues albums of all time, excluding previous inductees Robert Johnson’s The Complete Recordings, Bessie Smith’s The Essential, and Charley Patton’s Founder of the Delta Blues.

See the full list of album inductees here.

Muddy Waters At Newport (live, 1960)

Inducted August 2021 as “Top Blues Albums.”

This was “a great breakthrough moment in blues history.” AMG “Though his ‘50s recordings…revolutionized modern blues, it wasn’t until his raw, plugged-in steer blew up the Newport Folk Festival that whites in America gave Muddy (and the blues) proper respect.” VB “This was many white folks’ first exposure” BL “to live recorded blues.” AMG It was also significant because “the jazz audience opened its ears and embraced Chicago blues.” AMG Read more.

Bobby “Blue” Band Two Steps from the Blues (recorded 1956-60, released 1961)

Inducted August 2021 as “Top Blues Albums.”

“Two Steps from the Blues is the definitive Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland album and one of the great records in electric blues and soul-blues. In fact, it’s one of the key albums in modern blues, marking a turning point when juke joint blues were seamlessly blended with gospel and Southern soul, creating a distinctly Southern sound where all of these styles blended so thoroughly it was impossible to tell where one began and one ended.” STE Read more.

Howlin’ Wolf Moanin’ in the Moonlight/Howlin’ Wolf (aka “The Rockin’ Chair Album”) (1959/1962)

Inducted August 2021 as “Top Blues Albums.”

Howlin’ Wolf’s first two albums were compilations covering the years 1951 to 1962. Amongst the songs are “How Many More Years,” “Smokestack Lightning,” “Spoonful,” and “The Little Red Rooster,” all of which have been inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. In the CD era, they were packaged as one release, making for an effective overview of “the cream of Wolf’s Chicago blues work.” SC Both albums have been inducted in the Blues Hall of Fame. Read more.

B.B. King Live at the Regal (recorded live 1964, released 1965)

Inducted August 2021 as “Top Blues Albums.”

B.B. “King, who has been called ‘The King of the Blues’ and the ‘best blues artist of his generation,’ has been a primary influence on a number of artists, including Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton and Mike Bloomfield.” NRR “King is not only a timeless singer and guitarist, he’s also a natural-born entertainer, and on Live at the Regal the listener is treated to an exhibition of all three of his talents.” DG The album was significant in King’s career because it graduated him from a largely black following to a much larger white audience. Read more.

John Mayall’s Blue Breakers Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton (1966)

Inducted August 2021 as “Top Blues Albums.”

“Rarely has any single record album induced such a shift in popular music.” LP This is “perhaps the best British blues album ever cut.” BE It reinvented “the American blues for a fresh audience” LP giving “rise to subgenres such as heavy metal and other roots-related rock.” LP The album significantly featured guest Eric Clapton on his “first fully realized album as a blues guitarist,” BE coming in between his stints with the Yardbirds and Cream. His work “catapulted him” LP “to the helm of the burgeoning British blues-rock scene” LP and “international exposure as well as legendary guitar rock idol status.” LP Read more.

Albert King Born Under a Bad Sign (1967)

Inducted August 2021 as “Top Blues Albums.”

This Grammy Hall of Fame and National Recording Registry inductee features two songs (“Born Under a Bad Sign,” “Crosscut Saw”) which are Blues Hall of Fame inductees. The album marked King’s arrival at Stax Records where he recorded with Booker T & the MG’s and found the crossover appeal he’d previously been missing. AllMusic.com’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine calls this “one of the very greatest electric blues albums of all time.” AMG Read more.

Willie Dixon The Chess Box (compilation: 1951-69, released 1988)

Inducted August 2021 as “Top Blues Albums.”

“Songwriter, producer, and talent scout, singer-bassist Willie Dixon essentially built Chicago's Cobra and Chess labels with his sweat.” AZ This collection features 13 different artists including Bo Diddley, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter, Koko Taylor, and Muddy Waters, but with one unifying theme – all of these songs are written by Dixon, making a case for him to be crowned “king of the blues composers.” BF Read more.

Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble Texas Flood (1983)

Inducted August 2021 as “Top Blues Albums.”

“Produced by legendary talent scout John Hammond,” TD1 Texas Flood “captures the rising guitar star” TD1 “as rockin’ blues purist.” TD2 “Critics claimed that, no matter how prodigious Vaughan’s instrumental talents were, he didn’t forge a distinctive voice” STE but “that was sort of the point of Texas Flood. Vaughan didn’t hide his influences; he celebrated them, pumping fresh blood into a familiar genre” STE and becoming the “torchbearer of the ‘80s-‘90s blues revival.” TD2 Read more.

Robert Cray Strong Persuader (1986)

Inducted August 2021 as “Top Blues Albums.”

Strong Persuader, Cray’s fifth studio album, was his mainstream breakthrough, opening up blues to a wider audience than it had received in decades. The Village Voice, Robert Christgau called it “the first album to break out of the genre’s sales ghetto since B.B. King was a hot item” WK and “the best blues record in many, many years.” WK Read more.

Eric Clapton From the Cradle (1994)

Inducted August 2021 as “Top Blues Albums.”

No white man did more to expose blues to mass audiences than Eric Clapton. Before launching his solo career, his work with groups virtually established the blues-rock genre. As a solo artist, he regularly slipped blues covers into his albums. When his Unplugged album became the most successful of his career, selling 20 million copies and winning the Grammy for Album of the Year, he used his new-found clout to record his first all-blues cover album. Whle “he doesn’t have the strength to pull off Howlin’ Wolf’s growl or the confidence to replicate Muddy Waters’ assured phrasing” STE “the album manages to re-create the ambience of postwar electric blues, right down to the bottomless thump of the rhythm section.” STE Read more.
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Thursday, November 9, 2017

Today in Music (1967): Rolling Stone magazine hit the newsstands

November 9, 1967:

Rolling Stone magazine hit newsstands

The iconic magazine has become “a rock and roll institution” GB and “the most authoritative publication on rock and roll music.” ABC It was launched in San Francisco in 1967 by still-editor and publisher Jann Wenner along with music critic Ralph J. Gleason. Wenner was a transplanted New Yorker who’d moved west to go to Berkeley. As a student, he became a political activist and aspiring journalist. Gleason was a jazz critic with the San Francisco Chronicle who helped Wenner land a job after he dropped out of college in 1966.

In the first issue, Wenner described it as “sort of a magazine and sort of a newspaper” AG which was “not just about the music, but about the things and attitudes that music embraces.” GB The name for the magazine was inspired by the phrase “a rolling stone gathers no moss.” Of course, the famed British rock group of the same name also figured into the mix, as did the Muddy Waters’ song from which they took their name. In addition, Bob Dylan’s “first rock and roll record” was called “Like a Rolling Stone”. AG

The first issue featured a cover image of John Lennon from his movie How I Won the War. Some of the pieces in that issue included an investigation on what happened to profits from the Monterey Pop Festival, the split between the Byrds and David Crosby, Jefferson Airplane’s future plans, and a report that The Who’s “I Can See for Miles” was released that week.

The magazine has ironically received criticism for 1) a bias toward the 1960s and 1970, and 2) an attempt in more recent years to pander to younger audiences. Some bands, such as Led Zeppelin, were largely written off in their active years but celebrated years later. Also, some albums were rated as average or even poor initially (Nirvana’s Nevermind, The Beatles’ Let It Be), but in subsequent issues were celebrated as classics. In addition, the magazine’s liberal politics have occasionally come under fire.

The format has undergone several changes over the years. It started as a black-and-white print tabloid newspaper style publication. From 1973-1980, it was printed on newsprint paper size and then became a 10” x 12” magazine. In 2008, it switched to the smaller, standard-format size. As of April 19, 2010, it began featuring the entire collection archived online. It now operates under a subscription model meaning readers have to be paid members to access some content. The bi-weekly publication has done more than a thousand issues and has a circulation of 1.4 million.

Resources and Related Links:

First posted 11/9/2011; updated 11/5/2023.

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