The Blues

Most of the great blues artists began at the time when the LP wasn't yet the standard, and the industry was focused on singles, so you can do pretty well with anthologies and greatest hits collections.

I'd start with Robert Johnson, Blind Willie McTell, and Memphis Minnie for the original country blues. Then Muddy Waters, Sister Rosetta Tharp and Howlin' Wolf for the move into electricity. Albert King for the transition into post-soul music blues, B. B. King for the perfect blend of blues vocal and guitar. Buddy Guy for keeping the flame right up to the present day.

And there's a wealth of great music to be heard in collections of Freddie King, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Albert Collins, Etta James, Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, Otis Spann, Elmore James, Koko Taylor, Bessie Smith, John Lee Hooker...

A few select non-collection albums:

B. B. King Live at the Regal
Buddy Guy & Junior Wells Play The Blues
Albert King- Born Under A Bad Sign
Robert Cray- Strong Persuader
Willie Dixon – I Am The Blues
Albert Collins, Robert Cray & Johnny Copeland – Showdown!
Fathers And Sons - Muddy Waters
Moanin' In The Moonlight - Howlin' Wolf
Two Steps From The Blues - Bobby "Blue" Bland


ETA: Some fave individual tracks:

Stormy Monday - T-Bone Walker
Hellhound On My Trail - Robert Johnson
The Thrill Is Gone - B.B. King
Born Under A Bad Sign - Albert King
Smokestack Lightnin' - Howlin' Wol
I'm Tore Down - Freddie King
Nobody Knows You When You're Down & Out - Bessie Smith
Shake Your Moneymaker - Elmore James
See That My Grave Is Kept Clean - Blind Lemon Jefferson

Kelly Joe Phelps. Blues best kept secret, his first few CD's skew more towards the delta blues but they're a wonder to listen to. Check out 'Roll away the stone' or his live CD 'Tap the red cane whirlwind'.

Jeb's list is about as good as it get's.

I went through a blews phase some time ago and I found Blind Willie Johnson and Skip James from a couple movies I really liked. Pre-electric/rock-band blues is where it's at if you want to get to the core.

I've come to prefer the delta style country blues over the electric style, I used to listen to Blues all the time but not so much these days.

For a more contemporary album, I'd suggest Chulahoma by The Black Keys. Its a collection of cover songs by Junior Kimbrough and its fairly enjoyable, even if it doesn't reinvent the wheel or anything.

Uh... no one's mentioned Son House yet. So I'll say: listen to Son House.

And if you need to cleanse your palate with some new-ish stuff at any point, that Jimi Hendrix Blues album is the shit.

Great list by Jeb up there but if you want some modern stuff:

Ruthie Foster - "The Truth" or "Stages" One of the many heir apparents to Sister Rosetta. Her version of "Oh, Susanna" is pretty damn awesome as well as "Dues Paid in Full"

Big Bill Morganfield - Son of the great Muddy Waters. Very much Chicago style with a bit of the ol' Mississippi thrown in.

Bill Bourne - Straight up Mississippi styling from a very Canadian guy. Phenomenal playing that's very reminiscent of John Hurt.

Tri-continental - Speaking of Bill Bourne. Bill teams up with Madagascar Slim and Lester Quitzau to create world blues.

Eric Bibb - Son of the great holler and porch singer Leon Bibb. Unreal live performer who recalls the great Taj Mahal.

Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Choir - More porch songs and traditional slave tunes than what we'd call blues but really freakin awesome nonetheless.

Couple guys I probably should have mentioned, who are maybe on the "second tier" in terms of their overall importance in the genre, but tremendously enjoyable nonetheless are Jimmy Reed and Hound Dog Taylor and his Houserockers.

A great recent release is the bonus disk from the reissue of the Stones' Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out, which features terrific short sets from B. B. King and Ike and Tina Turner.

(And while Ike and Tina probably belong more in the R&B/soul category, Ike Turner might be THE most underrated guitarist of his generation)

Agreed. "A Black Man's Soul" is still a great, great, great album.

For someone more contemporary (but still dead), check out Chris Whitley. "Warcrime Blues", "Dislocation Blues" and "Reiter In" are nice, stripped-down efforts.

This gives a good sense of his vibe.

Oooo...Hound Dog Taylor. I forgot about him.

Agreed on Ike. Terrible, terrible human being. Helluva producer and guitar player.

And if we're slipping into R&B, how about some Joe and Eddie?

I like Whitley a lot. Nice choice. I've always thought he and Lyle Lovett would've been a helluva double bill.

I'm currently listening to Solomon Burke's latest, Nothing's Impossible. It's not really straight-out blues--more the soul/pop/country blend that's been his specialty for a while--but his voice is one of the great blues instruments, and it's still in amazing shape. "Everything About You" is my particular fave.

That was great. But I'm left with the bizarre urge to hear a Joe and Eddie and Danny (Kaye) trio.

As someone who is seriously into the soul/pop/country blend of Lovett, plus a huge fan of Burke's "None of Us Are Free", this sounds awesome.

Danny Kaye was suspicioulsy like Eminem. He was that white guy that black people would allow to hang out with them.

I've been meaning to listen to more of Whitley's work, Dislocation Blues is really good, another blues musician along the same lines is Jeff Lang, he played on dislocation blues as well, it was more of a collaboration between the two of them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7pBb3Q6StM

Love "Sittin' Down Thinkin'" and "Someday Baby."

And the people he influenced is probably just as big as those influenced by Muddy Waters. "Pigpen" McKernan, Jimmie Vaughn, Jimi, the Bramhall's etc.

This needs to be seconded. Grinnin' In Your Face might be my favorite thing ever.

Nobody mentioned Fat Possum records yet? Although they've expanded their roster over the years to include artists as diverse as Jay Reatard & Adam Green, their core business remains digging up forgotten blues legends & letting them do a new record. RL Burnside is the most recognized name there, but they've got loads of cool guys I'd never know without them, like:
Cedell Davis (MUST SEE CLIP, the guy plays blues guitar with a fuckin' knife jammed in his crippled hand)
Charles Caldwell
T-Model Ford (holy fuck yeah)

Search for their documentary on old blues men as well: YOU SEE ME LAUGHIN' (link shows you first 6 minutes of this awesome doc).

That's the weirdest tuning I have ever heard. It's awesome.

BTW, Seasick Steve is kinda awesome as well.

Harry Manx is another bluesman with an interesting take on it, he plays a raga, which is an indian instrument, it sounds really cool.

Plus, he's Canadian so he's got that going for him, which is nice.

If the country and Delta blues are what's working for you, a few other faves of mine:

Mississippi Fred McDowell- “Done Left Here”
Charlie Patton- “High Water Everywhere”
Skip James- “I’m So Glad”
Robert Belfour- “Black Mattie”
Blind Willie Reynolds- “Outside Woman Blues”
Tommy Johnson- “Cool Drink of Water Blues”
Bo Carter- “Don’t Mash My Digger So Deep”
Willie Brown- “Future Blues”
Big Joe Williams- “Baby Please Don’t Go”

I listened to a couple of Seasick Steve CD's, this guy is great. he's a fantastic storyteller, you could listen him talk about his adventures for hours.