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Empty Bed Blues, Bessie Smith

Have no idea where my copies ended up but I had it on vinyl and cassette. Never could find a cd version with that original re-release tracklist (it's essentially a compilation of singles). So I'm hunting down a new copy of the original vinyl/cassette releases.

Muddy Waters' Live at Newport 1960

First Blues album
 

I didn't know it at the time but Led Zeppelin 1. Turns out to be a great blues album. The first known blues album I bought was Live at the Filmore East by Ten Years After.

Big Joe Williams - Hand Me Down My Old Walking Stick

I found it in a cutout bin either when I was in high school or shortly thereafter. Most of it is just Williams and his acoustic guitar, playing some solid country blues. The liner note state that Williams was given a bottle of bourbon and some ginger ale and that he knocked out the album in a short amount of time. I'm surprised such an admission would be made. But Williams sounds in control throughout. And as a friend of mine said when I played the album for him: "I can see where The Rolling Stones got a lot of their licks."

It's interesting how Led Zep gets criticized for borrowing from the blues but the Stones are mostly respected for it.

True, but in fairness, Led Zep catches a lot of flack for stealing songs, not just guitar licks: The Lemon Song, Nobody's Fault But Mine, Dazed And Confused (and the composer of that one, Jake Holmes, isn't even a blues artist)...the list goes on and on. I agree with a lot of the criticisms of Zep: stealing songs, bombastic, etc. But they were still great, regardless. They were my favorite band growing up, and I still retain a fondness for their music--well, most of it, anyway :)

Big Joe Williams - Hand Me Down My Old Walking Stick

Title song from the album of the same name.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztItuvt79rE

My first Blues album was B.B. King’s Live at the Regal. It completely hooked me on the genre, and it’s still one of my favorites to this day.