Me and the Blues

I've never been a fan of the blues. As a musician, of course I appreciate how important it was to the development of rock n roll, r&b, pop and thus a lot of music I love. However, there's just something about the predictability and overall feeling of most blues that rubs me the wrong way. Sometimes, if it's injected into pop music, I really like it such as in the Beatles' "Dig a Pony" and "Yer Blues." But otherwise, I've found that a lot of blues music seems to focus on the individual playing or singing style of the performer rather than writing musically interesting songs. Instead, most bluesmen improvise over the same repertoire of around 10 grooves.

However, I've recently found an appreciation for some of the very first blues recordings. After reading a chapter on James McKune and his role as a blues tastemaker in Listen Again: A Momentary History of Pop Music by Eric Weisbard, I thought I'd check out some of the early recordings mentioned which came to form the foundation of what's now called the Delta Blues. I was surprised to find that some of these songs were the most unique I'd heard in a long time. While one can certainly hear traces of the blues as we know it in these tracks, there's some really interesting songwriting and textural ideas that didn't survive into later blues music or any other music that I've heard. Also, the scratchy, warped sound quality I think really suits this type of music and makes it feel much more authentic as an expression of the African American struggle. Most of these tracks come from a 1962 compilation called Really! The Country Blues 1927-1933, which I've attached below along with commentary on standout tracks.

Really! The Country Blues

Maggie Campbell Blues: really nice guitar picking, a loose groove supports the vocal performance perfectly. The occasional tremolo picking reminds me a bit of latin music. Guitar riff has an eeriness rarely heard in blues.

Old Country Rock: deadpan spoken word vocal seems way ahead of its time, almost punk-like. Another interesting twangy guitar riff that's a bit haunting, probably even a little more so than the last track. 

France Blue: Some nice two-part harmonies in this song.

Devil Got My Woman: Probably the darkest blues song I've ever heard. So much despair in the guitar part and vocals. If there was a blues sub-genre in the vein of this song, I could definitely be into that. Usually, there's a feeling of rising above the every day struggle in blues despite the down lyrics. Almost like the music serves to represent the light at the end of the tunnel, but this song sounds like pure darkness to me, and as one who uses music to wallow rather than overcome, I can really appreciate that aspect of this recording.

Touch Me Light Mama: gotta love the weird groove created by the static, especially against such a minimal arrangement, which sounds like only vocals and harmonica. The vocals are really intense and occasionally become somewhat dissonant with the harmonica which creates a really primitive effect that I think is interesting. I'm not sure what's going on with the harmonica, but whenever the singer says "catch em" it starts to sound almost animal-like, almost like they overdubbed someone humming along with the harmonica, i'm not sure. Next to Devil Got My Woman, this one's probably my favorite due to how strange it is especially compared to typical blues. 

Undertaker Blues: Realy cool skittering percussion in this track.