<\/p>\n
Blues and jazz were linked back then and gradually began to separate in early 20th<\/sup> century.\u00a0 Blues is thought to have started around the Mississippi Delta, close to New Orleans, the birthplace of Jazz.\u00a0 Around the 1930\u2019s, blues began to move north up through the Midwest and moved into the urban areas.\u00a0 When it hit Chicago, it merged with other styles and it went electric and then from the ashes Rock \u2018n Roll and various fusions of music were later formed and continue to be formed today.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Like all things in life, what goes up must come down and it\u2019s the same with blues.\u00a0 Over the decades, it\u2019s fallen in and out of favour. In 2008, when we hit a recession, people began to listen to the blues.\u00a0 Now in 2019, it has grown in popularity so much that Blues Guitar Music is finally becoming King again.\u00a0 Blues is the New Black.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Unless you have being asleep or living in a Buddhist Temple deep in the heart of Tibet, you will surely have noticed that recently The Rolling Stones<\/strong> successfully released their Blues album \u201cBlue\u201d to widespread acclaim. Eric Clapton<\/strong>\u2019s documentary movie \u201cLife in 12 Bars\u201d<\/em> has hit our digital screens. A brand-new Jimi Hendrix<\/strong> album was released with some new studio material seeing the day of light for the first time. Even the Swedish fast guitar shredder Yngwie Malmsteen<\/strong> is about to drop his first ever blues album this month. In fact there are now more Blues Rock Festivals worldwide this year then ever before, as well as more blues guitar based bands performing across our Globe. Not to mention sold out Blues-Rock cruises to the Caribbean and blues songs sneaking their way into many modern movies and TV series.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We have seen this pattern before as Blues Music since the sixties has repeatedly dropped in and out of fashion and popularity, yet somehow it always resurfaces to the top and proves to be timeless. A trend of which we fondly like to refer to as a \u201cBlues Revival\u201d<\/em> and it tends to happen every ten to twelve years. \u00a0Now it\u2019s official, 2019 sees the latest Blues Revival emerge and this time with many Music Industry insiders predicting it\u2019s going to be the biggest one yet.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n To understand the whole shebang, you must first look back to the long interesting history of the Blues genre itself. \u00a0No one would dare argue against the fact that the Blues is the very foundation and origin of Rock n\u2019 Roll and all of its hybrids since. \u00a0It\u2019s been well documented that the blues emerged from the Deep South in America along by the cotton plantations and areas such as the Mississippi Delta where the first wave of African American\u2019s sang stories to each other whilst picking cotton and soon fine musicians emerged out of this where their style progressed to singer songwriter with guitars picking acoustic blues and country blues instead of cotton.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Many of these early Bluesmen played on street corners. \u00a0Some became travelling musicians playing real gigs at Weekend Juke Joints that became plentiful around the South. \u00a0Prominent names from this period include Charley Patton, Robert Johnson, Son House, <\/strong>and Leadbelly<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Even the great Muddy Waters<\/strong>, who was born in Mississippi, would have started out playing acoustic blues before his important move north to the south side of Chicago where we now know the Blues first became electrified, a large significant step in the evolution of modern Blues. \u00a0Popular names alongside Muddy Waters<\/strong> rising up in the new electric blues genre included the three Kings:\u00a0 BB, Freddie and Albert King<\/strong> who inevitably became the first ever blues-rock guitar heroes. \u00a0These great Blues musicians constantly toured and for a while achieved a certain amount of success but prominently amongst their own African American Black audiences before the Blues flame tapered off and hard times for the Blues were met again.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ironic as it is. The next Blues Revival was in fact, spearheaded by the great British Blues Invasion. \u00a0For the most part consisting of white blue-eyed middle class English boys playing their highly influenced black American blues. \u00a0But they played it well and on their own terms and they made a huge impact in America as well as at home in Europe.\u00a0 Exponents of this brand new Blues wave featured bands like John Mayall\u2019s Bluesbreakers, Alexis Korner, Peter Green\u2019s Fleetwood Mac. <\/strong>\u00a0It was bands like this that got the ball rolling for bands like The Yard Birds<\/strong> (which featured Jimmy Page & Jeff Beck<\/strong>), The Faces<\/strong> and of course The Rolling Stones<\/strong>. \u00a0Blues was booming again and soon the demographics changed. \u00a0The bigger Black American Blues artists now found their audience were younger and even a larger percentage white.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Next up, came an even harder edge to the Blues notably the English Super Group \u201cCream<\/strong>\u201d epitomizing the Blues-Rock Power Trio as well as making Eric Clapton<\/strong> the World\u2019s first Big International Guitar Hero. \u00a0They paved the way for great Power Trios such as the Jimi Hendrix Experience<\/strong>, Johnny Winter band, ZZ Top<\/strong> and Ireland\u2019s Taste<\/strong> featuring the very talented Rory Gallagher<\/strong>. \u00a0It was actually this progression that lead to a heavier sounding blues that went on to shape and influence bands like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and AC\/DC<\/strong> which in turn were the steppingstones to Hard Rock and even Metal.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Then eighties saw the Blues slow down and found itself in the back seat lost among new music trends including the arrival of Synthesizer Pop, Hair Metal and MTV<\/strong> with music videos killing the Blues along with the Radio Star! \u00a0And then something extraordinary happened. \u00a0Right out of the blue, Texan Stevie Ray Vaughan<\/strong> arrived against all the odds and made Rockin\u2019 Blues King again.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A new Revival was born which brought us the likes of Robert Cray, Buddy Guy, Albert Collins<\/strong>, Canadian Jeff Healey<\/strong>, and George Thorogood and the Destroyers<\/strong> became so popular. Bob Geldof<\/strong> had to have them perform on Live Aid<\/strong> and to Top it all up . . . ZZ Top<\/strong> became MTV Video Stars!!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Just like clockwork the popularity of the blues tapered off again and the next few years saw more or less a wave of smaller Blues Revivals which gave us Luther Allison, Kenny Wayne Shepherd <\/strong>and Johnny Lang<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Other milestones worth mentioning was the nod to the Blues by Mega Irish Band U2<\/strong> by inviting BB King<\/strong> to join them as their very special guest and Nirvana<\/strong> covering a Son House<\/strong> song on their MTV unplugged concert. \u00a0A mellower style soulful blues also came to significant prominence with players like Jimmie Vaughan<\/strong> (Stevie\u2019s brother), Robben Ford, Sue Foley<\/strong> and slide players extraordinaire such as Ry Cooder, Bonnie Raitt <\/strong>and Sonny Landreth<\/strong> leading the way.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The nineties kicked off a large enough revival when Irish Hard Rock guitarist Gary Moore<\/strong> recorded and released his first ever Blues rock album. It was so well received, even by mainstream radio, that it went on to out sell his complete Hard Rock catalog.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Indie Punk Roots duo The White Strips<\/strong> hailing from Detroit, Michigan dominated the charts for a while and at the end of the day front man Jack White<\/strong> proved himself to be a fine Roots Blues player and he turned a new generation of Grunge Indie Punks onto the Blues.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Other American bands like Blues Traveller<\/strong> also proved that white boys could again make a good living touring America playing the Blues, which was not really happening since The Allman Brothers <\/strong>and Paul Butterfield Band<\/strong>, at least certainly not in between Revivals.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Another oddball stunt helped the struggling Blues genre, with the legendary Blues-Rock guitarist Jimmy Page<\/strong> (of Led Zeppelin<\/strong>) teaming up with Puff Daddy<\/strong> and charting a hit. \u00a0Around about the same time a White middle-class session guitarist from California decided to change his name and become a down and out Bluesman a.k.a. Seasick Steve<\/strong> and the rest is history.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s in recent years that something interesting happened. \u00a0For starters, American Blues-Rock guitarist Joe Bonamassa<\/strong> almost singlehandedly started his very own Worldwide Blues Revival. \u00a0Joe and his management copped an attitude like \u201cHell, why wait for a new Revival? Let\u2019s start one ourselves\u201d!<\/em> \u00a0And they certainly did just that. \u00a0Joe very quickly moved way beyond child prodigy to becoming a very prolific artist.\u00a0 He took his Blues-Rock to a wider and somewhat younger audience, whilst stimulating the market and opening the doors for other wonderful artists to follow like Beth Hart, Warren Haynes, <\/strong>& Tedeschi Trucks Band<\/strong>, all enjoying widespread success now. \u00a0Meanwhile back in America, \u201cPart-time Blues guitarist, part time Pop Star\u201d John Mayer<\/strong> brought some memorable Blues (in between bubblegum Pop) to an even larger younger audience.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Never before has there being more Blues-Rock guitarists out there than right now. \u00a0But we have to be careful not to jump to any conclusions too fast in this fickle Smartphone digital age where we see many young music careers last as long as a cat video on YouTube. \u00a0Everybody loves to watch a ten-year-old young boy or girl play Hendrix note for note but remember, as good as they are, you are always only a mouse click or screen touch away from finding someone even younger and better.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In the old days, pre Facebook, there was an American kid, only eight years old, who became a very famous blues player on Myspace. \u00a0I ask where is he now? I can\u2019t even remember his name.\u00a0 I can only presume a terrible thing happened to him, like he grew up and after he hit sixteen the novelty of his act died a sudden death.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I have learned through my long research that in the past and possibly the future, Blues audiences never did and never will suffer fools. \u00a0You have to be damn good to break through from the small clubs to the Big Time. \u00a0Even being good isn\u2019t good enough these days.\u00a0 You have to have great management, good business awareness and a strong work ethic.\u00a0 Artists over the years that we\u2019ve all seen hyped as the next Hendrix, next Clapton, and the next Stevie Ray Vaughan have always proved to be the Kiss of Death!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s not enough to be a great performer, singer and guitarist performing with drop-dead passion. \u00a0The final cog in the wheel must be songs. \u00a0Songs written from the heart about real life experiences that move people to tears and send shivers down their spine.\u00a0 That\u2019s when you connect with people.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This New Blues Revival is getting quite exciting, and it may well just be the biggest one ever.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In America they\u2019ve got Gary Davis Jnr<\/strong> who\u2019s making all the right moves and grooves and he\u2019s got the songs, even Eric Clapton<\/strong> is a fan.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There\u2019s Two Texans making waves, Doyle Bramhall ll<\/strong> a singer songwriter, producer, guitarist and his father co-wrote songs with Stevie Ray Vaughan<\/strong>. \u00a0Lance Lopez<\/strong>, a no holes barred Texan blues-rock player who is highly championed by the Rev. Billy Gibbons<\/strong> (ZZ Top<\/strong>)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You also have a talented young lady making serious waves in America and beyond called Samantha Fish. <\/strong>\u00a0Mississippi Blues rock outfit Bishop Gunn<\/strong> melt their local Delta Blues influence into their modern Rock sound.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Memphis has their own star in the making Eric Gales<\/strong>, a true Blues-Rock guitar force to be reckoned with.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Canada is in with a shout too. \u00a0The cream of Canadian talent features players such as Colin James<\/strong> and Matt Andersen<\/strong> and they seem to be blazing the trail. \u00a0Blues rock stars like Frank Marino<\/strong> and Jeff Healey<\/strong> travelled down before them.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n History has shown when Blues Revivals happen they always pull a couple of should-be legends up to the top, especially when the last of the older living blues gentry get closer to the big jam in the sky!\u00a0 On top of this list is the wonderful Walter Trout<\/strong>, who certainly deserves to be in the first Division, and this Revival should gladly oblige.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Stateside also got soulful Bluesman Tommy Castro & The Pain Killers<\/strong> from San Francisco, and an honourable mention must go out to hard working New York Guitar Slinger Popa Chubby<\/strong> who should also see some favourable results to give him the same success he has achieved in France elsewhere.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But Europe is a different animal and one interesting note, is the fact that the Europeans (including the UK before they jump ship i.e. Brexit) have not had a Blues Rock guitarist crack this genre\u2019s market in the last thirty-nine years. \u00a0If you look at all the big European born Blues-Rock guitar names both living and no longer with us, then you can be sure they were all happening in the seventies. \u00a0Yet throughout the last three or four decades, this Blues genre has seen at least six Americans and one Canadian make it big worldwide.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This time round. Europe sure has its worthy contenders to change that.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n First up, they\u2019ve got Irish Blues-Rock guitarist Eamonn McCormack<\/strong>. \u00a0Based in Germany, Eamonn is judged to be the welcome follow up to his predecessors Rory Gallagher <\/strong>and Gary Moore.<\/strong> \u00a0He\u2019s got it all, great songs (he\u2019s a great songwriter too), super voice oozing with emotion and his very own unique original Irish Blues-Rock guitar sound and style.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Germany has a fine Blues guitarist, singer songwriter in Henrik Freischlader<\/strong> and he\u2019s got his very own thing going on.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In the UK their main candidates are ex White Snake<\/strong> guitarist Bernie Marsden<\/strong>, an excellent player and songwriter. \u00a0There is the Scottish Party Blues-Rock band King King<\/strong> rockin\u2019 their audiences near and far. \u00a0England also has a superb artist in Joanna Shaw Taylor<\/strong> who now lives in Detroit.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There are the young acoustic blues guitarist, singer songwriter Dan Owens<\/strong> and Laurence Jones<\/strong> who are successfully blending modern pop with their own blues style. \u00a0They also have Big Band up and coming Blues Star Danny Bryant<\/strong> and last but not least, their own formidable bluesman Ian Siegal<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n France has got a major talent in veteran Blues guitarist Cisco Herzhaft<\/strong> and a younger fine guitarist called Manu Lanvin<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Scandinavia is very proud of their Finnish contender Erja Lyytinen<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Serbia has a lot of talent in Ana Popovic<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Even South Africa is in the picture with a tasty Blues-Rock guitarist called Dan Patlansk,<\/strong> and Australia has it\u2019s very own travelling Blues-Rock veteran that is Gwyn Ashton<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Truth is, there is an abundance of fantastic blues players across the world and this latest Blues Revival is starting to explode. \u00a0Already the Guitar companies are smiling like Cheshire Cats! \u00a0Up until now, Blues-Rock Tribute bands have somewhat filled the gap. \u00a0But now originality is the key as with any Blues Revival.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Of course, the blues is not brand new and you can\u2019t re-invent the wheel but you can create an original twist to the style and put your own stamp on it just like all the greats have done in the past.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Revivals always come with a warning sticker on the package that clearly states:\u00a0 Tribute bands need not apply!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Right now, Marcus King Band<\/strong> is making a lot of noise with his \u201cAllman Brothers<\/strong>\u201d influenced Southern Rock style imbedded into his tasteful Blues. \u00a0Teenager Christone \u201cKingfisher\u2019 Ingram<\/strong> is turning heads with his passionate energetic guitar performances across the globe. Roots Indie sister act Larkin Poe<\/strong> owe their allegiance greatly to the likes of Son House. <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n We also have the Boston based Blues guitarist Tyler Morris<\/strong>. \u00a0She is only nineteen and already has three albums under her belt.\u00a0 Young teen band Greta Van Fleet<\/strong> from Michigan State (greatly influenced by Led Zeppelin<\/strong>) have just finished their first World tour to sold out clubs with young screaming teenage fans digging their modern style retro Blues-Rock so much so they just picked up a Grammy award.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yet again for the Blues, and suddenly, the coolest hippest place to be seen in town in 2019 is at a Blues-Rock Concert or Festival.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Long may it live\u2026 cause this time it took a long while a comin\u2019! . . .<\/p>\n ————————————————————–<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Eoghan is a part-time journalist and filmmaker and has spent the last two and a half years researching the Blues Genre. He has being busy interviewing many Blues artists across the World from The Mississippi Delta to Berlin and all points in between. He is a novice guitar player himself and loves all kinds of music.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You can contact Eoghan:<\/strong>\u00a0 ej@bourbon.fm<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Eoghan Jennings<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Blues Guitar Music back in Vogue in a Bluesier World\u2026 Written by Eoghan Jennings March 2019 In hard<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[70,72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment-arts-other-news","category-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10554"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10558,"href":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10554\/revisions\/10558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Where is the Blues now?<\/h3>\n
Looking back to the Origins of the Blues<\/h3>\n
The British Blues Invasion.<\/h3>\n
80\u2019s Blues Slowdown<\/h3>\n
90\u2019s Blues revival<\/h3>\n
New Millenium Blues<\/h3>\n
How to connect with people<\/h3>\n
Today\u2019s Blues Revival<\/h3>\n
Canada Blues<\/h3>\n
Don\u2019t forget European Blues<\/h3>\n
Originality is the new Blue!<\/h3>\n
The Times they are a Changin\u2019!<\/h3>\n
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