Blues Road Trip

Blues

Blues is about tradition and personal expression. At its core, the blues has remained the same since its inception. Most blues feature simple, usually three-chord, progressions and have simple structures that are open to endless improvisations, both lyrical and musical. The blues grew out of African spirituals and worksongs. In the late 1800s, southern African-Americans passed the songs down orally, and they collided with American folk and country from the Appalachians. New hybrids appeared by each region, but all of the recorded blues from the early 1900s are distinguished by simple, rural acoustic guitars and pianos. After World War II, the blues began to fragment, with some musicians holding on to acoustic traditions and others taking it to jazzier territory. However, most bluesmen followed Muddy Waters' lead and played the blues on electric instruments. From that point on, the blues continued to develop in new directions -- particularly on electric instruments -- or it has been preserved as an acoustic tradition.

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Track listing   

00:00:00 Aretha Franklin - Today I Sing the Blues 00:02:46 B.B. King - Sweet Little Angel 00:05:46 Johnny Cash - I Walk the Line 00:08:30 John Lee Hooker - Dimples 00:10:45 Robert Johnson - Cross Road Blues 00:13:24 Lightnin Hopkins - Got to Move Your Baby 00:17:28 Freddy King - I'm Tore Down 00:20:06 Bo Diddley - I'm a Man 00:23:06 Eddie Taylor - Bad Boy 00:26:09 James Brown - Try Me 00:28:41 Shakey Jake - Love Me Baby 00:31:52 Snooky Pryor - Judgment Day 00:34:34 Jimmy Reed - Baby What You Want Me to Do 00:36:57 Brownie McGhee, Sonny Terry - Stranger Here 00:40:34 Billy Boy - I Wish You Would 00:43:34 Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues 00:46:20 Sam Hopkins - Penitentiary Blues 00:48:53 T-Bone Walker - I Wanna See My Baby 00:52:14 Sonny Boy Williamson - Stop Right Now 00:54:39 Big Bill Broonzy - See See Rider 00:57:36 Fats Domino - Blueberry Hill 00:59:57 Screamin' Jay Hawkins - Little Demon 01:02:19 The Coasters - Down in Mexico 01:05:35 Josh White - I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town 01:08:43 Albert King - Don't throw your love on me so strong 01:11:40 Sonny Terry - I'm Crazy 'Bout You Baby 01:15:08 Lonnie Johnson - Mr. Johnson Swing -- JazzAndBluesExperience