Looking for Suggestions of Blues with no drums?
 

I received an odd request for some Blues music with no drums.
I was sent a clip from part of the show called Vinyl. The character is this guy Lester, but his throat was injured, so his music career is over. But him singing alone in his living room while reminiscing.
I uploaded it to Youtube... that's the kind of music I am trying to find.

well that sucks... I can't post the link until I have 15 posts.


thanks

Most of Leadbelly's music is just him and his guitar.

Pretty much all early blues has no drums. Robert Johnson, Big Bill Broonzy etc. Sometimes you'll hear early recordings with a washboard for percussion, more often it will just be voice and an acoustic guitar.

Thank you so much for your reply, Aloysius!
If anyone else has some suggestions, I would love to hear them.
I'll look up yours; I love Robert Johnson!

Elizabeth Cotten, Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Willie McTell, and Rev. Gary Davis are among my favorite Country Blues artists. They did Blues, but also Ragtime and other styles of music as well.

Rev. Gary Davis plays "Slow Drag / Cincinnati Flow Rag"

Here are some that you may find unique, I've always found these guys stick out among the classic original blues guitarists as early innovators, very inventive picking styles.

Skip James is my personal favorite, very unique and unusual approach to both his picking, guitar tuning, and his vocal delivery, usually very haunting in tone. There are no others like Skip James, he stands alone in his own world, of all the blues I've ever heard nobody even comes close to his style. One of the most original and captivating musicians I've ever known of in the whole of music.



Another personal favorite, perhaps the polar opposite of Skip James on the tonal spectrum, Mississippi John Hurt was a master of alternating bass and had tendency to dance up and down the neck in a very unique and musical way. His melodies are absolutely heartwarming, especially paired with his relaxed and sincere vocal style.



And a couple of modern favorites:

Bob Brozman is a controversial artist with a dark history but he was undoubtedly one of the most inventive and talented slide guitarists in the history of music. This particular performance is one of the most incredible I've ever seen in my life, it's an almost inhuman level of precision, yet so passionately voiced and loyal to the blues, far from overly cold and calculated. There are things Brozman does that I've never even seen attempted by other guitarists.



One of my favorite modern blues guitarists that still primarily plays traditional delta style without a backing band is Alvin Youngblood Hart. Great voice, great picking, and excellent songwriting.

Here's some more early blues:
http://www.musicbanter.com/jazz-blue...rly-blues.html

And you can post links. Here's how:
http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...psgcbzmk2y.jpg

While it uses percussion of his one string instrument, Moses Williams doesn't use "drums."



I guess you could call One String Brushy Moses Williams' modern counterpart.


Some of the classics have already been mentioned (Leadbelly, Robert Johnson, etc.), but no mention of Son House yet (my personal favourite).


Evenin Bell by Captain Beefheart is a good one, but there's not that much else in his discography that's similar.

I am completely overwhelmed with gratitude!
I hope my daughter finds some of your suggestions to her liking, but if not, well, I sure do!
I cannot thank you enough!
JustBlue/Gayle