Despite that crossroads myth, Johnson’s prodigious guitar chops likely came from finding a tutor and working hard as a student. Robert Johnson was hailed as the “king of the Delta blues,” and described by Eric Clapton as “the most important blues singer that ever lived.” His short life ended in 1938 at the age of 27, but his songs have become standards of the blues canon, and he’s recognized as an outstanding guitarist and a songwriter who pushed the boundaries of the genre during his lifetime. Robert Johnson: If I Had Possession (1936) Patton bewails the devastation caused by the invasion of the Boweevil beetle which fed on cotton buds and caused huge problems for the cotton industry and in particular for African American tenants. He recorded Boweevil Blues in 1929 as “The Masked Marvel.” It’s primal blues, with one chord accompaniment, three basic notes in the vocal melody, and a high-note bottleneck accent after the vocal phrase, with the slide often finishing the last word in the phrase. His 1928 Mama ‘Taint Long Fo’ Day lets you appreciate the depth of his skill and musicality.Ĭharlie Patton: Mississippi Boweevil Blues (1929)Īlong with Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton was arguably the most important and formative voice of the early sound of the blues in the Mississippi Delta. Willie McTell was an accomplished slide player as well as being an adept Piedmont style and ragtime finger picker and had a significant recording career in the 1920s and 30s. īlind Willie McTell: Mama ‘Taint Long Fo’ Day (1928) We’ve gone with Dark was the Night, where Johnson’s exquisite slide playing takes you right into the agony of the Garden of Gethsemane, negating the need for sung lyrics, and is just augmented by Johnson’s moaning. He’s so good – I mean, he’s just so good.” Eric Clapton’s view was that Johnson’s slide work on It’s Nobody’s Fault But Mine was “probably the finest slide guitar playing you’ll ever hear.” So there’s a number of songs we could have chosen. He had fabulous syncopation he could keep his thumb going really strong. Ry Cooder said, “Blind Willie Johnson had great dexterity, because he could play all of these sparking little melody lines. Willie Johnson’s slide playing is widely admired.
(actually 25 has become 26!!) Blind Willie Johnson: Dark was the Night, Cold Was the Ground (1927) They’re just here for you to explore and enjoy – I hope they give you as much pleasure as I had in researching, choosing and listening to them. They’re in chronological order so there’s no attempt here to judge these against each other. We’ve chosen 25 terrific blues songs that feature slide guitar, from Willie Johnson to Derek Trucks. Handy to the blues when he heard the solitary guitar player on the station in Tutweiler, Mississippi in 1903 – “The effect,” he said, “was unforgettable.” It was the sound of the slide guitar that first alerted W.C. And it’s got a long tradition in the history of the blues, reaching back to Charlie Patton, Blind Willie McTell, Blind Willie Johnson and Robert Johnson, when those glissando and vibrato notes were squeezed out by a penknife or a broken bottle neck caressing or, at times, attacking the guitar strings. In the hands of an expert exponent, it’s a thing of wonder. Slide guitar – it’s sweet, it’s grit ty, it’s sensual, it reaches right inside and grabs your innards. Fatboy Slim and the Chemical Brothers rejuvenated electronica, Shania Twain and Garth Brooks spurred a resurgence in the popularity of country music, and Jay-Z and Tupac Shakur brought new life to hip-hop.įind out if your favorite song from the 1990s made the cut in this list of 100 hits from the decade.25 Blues Slide Guitar Songs You Must Hear At the beginning of the '90s, Seattle birthed the grunge movement, which melded punk and hard rock, producing such influential bands as Pearl Jam and Soundgarden.Īs the decade progressed, grunge was absorbed into the larger, radio-friendly "alternative rock" genre, then gave way to aggro-rock and nu-metal bands like Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park at the end of the decade. Other artists who dominated the charts included Janet Jackson, Boyz II Men, Whitney Houston, and TLC. 1 hits than anyone else during that decade. So who were some of the biggest acts of the 1990s? Mariah Carey had more No. Boy bands and divas dominated the pop and dance charts, while East and West Coast rappers gave hip-hop a fresh sense of urgency. New acts like Nirvana changed the way people listened to rock music, while established stars like Madonna had the biggest hits of their careers. From a pop musical standpoint, the 1990s was one of the most eclectic, and the best songs of the decade still sound fresh today.
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