In my , I said something about the re-imagining of the Blues, and how that is a rare thing. A couple of years ago, a fellow musician and a good friend of mine sent me a link to a t he made, a list that contained some exciting modern blues songs, written in the past 15 or so years. It was at the time my band was recording such a song , and it kind of gave me hope that there are like-minded musicians out there, that add their contribution to the further development of the Blues. Here are my top five modern blues songs so far:latest article
1. Valerie June - "You Can't Be Told"
The drum beat actually inspired me to write “Muddy Puddles Blues.” It’s a well-constructed riff song, reminiscent of the early forms of Blues and shouts from the cotton fields of the past. It’s from the album “Pushin' Against a Stone” released in July 2011, which was co-written and produced by Dan Auerbach from “The Black Keys”, who is hugely responsible for the retro sound of the record.
2. Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir - "Oh Sorrow"
One of the most exciting musicians on the Blues scene today. Stylistically and musically they are a band you can not get around if you're in a quest for finding new expressions of the Blues. Coming from Calgary, Alberta they play a "ferocious combination of traditional blues, Appalachian folk, and ragged gospel".
3. Gary Clark Jr. - "Bright Lights"
Gary Clark Jr, is a well-known, commercial artist, influenced by more than only the Blues, in his twist on old music (soul, country, hip-hop). That doesn’t mean that he lacks the sense for the "real thing." He is blue from his head down to his shoes.
4. The Wanton Bishops - "Sleep With The Lights On"
There’s a band I could swear it came from the sixties. But they didn’t - they’re not even from America. Believe it or not, they come from Lebanon, to be more exact, from Beirut, where they were formed as a duo in 2011. Nader Mansour (vocals, guitar, harmonica, keyboards) and Eddy Ghossein (guitar, backing vocals, banjo) show for sure that the Blues is a universal music for all martyrs and lost souls across the Globe.
5. Fink - “Hard Believer”
This is my favorite contemporary blues song. To my greatest surprise, it came from an electronic artist, whose repertoire has little to do with this song or with Blues in general. Fink, aka Fin Greenall, is an English singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer and DJ, born in Cornwall, England, best known for his DJ-ing, although he made his biggest success with the album “Hard Believer” on which this song with the same name was released. It’s a hypnotic mantra-like song, which mesmerizes with its slow, deep groove. It’s absolute magic, a piece of the Universe contained in a five-and-a-half minute soundscape.
This is not a definite list. There are a lot of artists that explore the Blues from a contemporary perspective, starting from the more famous like Jack White or The Black Keys, to The Wanton Bishops and similar bands. Modern music is a vast region full of experimental, alternative, avant-garde, or call-them-whatever musicians that still dig into the essence of things. And the Blues is definitely in the core of popular music, however diverse it grew up to be.
