For those still padding their collections, or seeking blues you can use, take a gander at Rolling Stone’s look back at 1970s blues.
Among my favorites in this list are the now and then reviews of Bobby Rush’s, 1979 masterpiece Rush Hour
“Bobby Rush…took his decades of his experience and his close study of Howlin’ Wolf and made an urban blues album for his times, incorporating touches of Philadelphia soul, street-corner harmonies, and the rhythms of the pulpit….Rush Hour was the first album in a sequence of ever-stranger “folk-funk” explorations.
What We Said Then: “Rush Hour …is outrageous and stunning…Rush Hour is a tribute to resilience–a sign that the lessons Howlin’ Wolf and his peers learned and taught have been neither lost nor forgotten. You’re going to need something like this to get you through the Eighties.” — Dave Marsh, RS 305 (November 29th, 1979)
Presently, in this decade, the stalwart blues funk purveyor from Homer, LA has just won grammy for best traditional blues album twice. Congratulations to Bobby on such a good long run of great albums. I look forward to seeing him take the stage, always an inspiration.
Here he is in BCI #15 talking Chitlin’ Circuit and New Orleans blues.
King of the Chitlin’ Circuit, Bobby Rush, turns 86 today! His incredible energy and vitality are an inspiration to us all. Winner of his first Grammy in 2017 for Porcupine Meat, he’s miraculously back with another strong release Sitting on Top of the Blues in 2019.
