I guess that why they call them the Blues players celebrate International Guitar Month
If you’re a fan of guitar music, especially if you listen to a lot of classic rock, the artists that you love have most likely been influenced by guitarists who played the Blues. Here are five guitarists who are no longer with us who are legends of the Blues genre.
It doesn't get more old-school than Robert Johnson. He spent most of his career playing on street corners and juke joints. Legend has it that he made a deal with The Devil to become a great Blues musician. His recording career lasted less than a year before his death at age twenty-seven, but his influence has lived on for decades afterward.
Elmore James was known as “The King of the Slide Guitar.” He influenced Jimmy Hendrix enough that he started his career known as Jimmy James. In The Beatles’ song “For You Blue”, John Lennon is playing slide guitar with George Harrison pushing him on with, Go Johnny Go…Elmore James got nothing on this.”
Muddy Waters is considered the most influential musician in the post-World War II Blues scene. After coming up north from Mississippi, he earned the nickname, “The father of modern Chicago Blues.” His influence on other musicians included The Rolling Stones naming their band after one of his songs.
B.B. King was one of the most influential Blue guitarists of all time. Known as the “King of the Blues” he was one of the most tireless live performers. King averaged more than two hundred live performances each year, well into his seventies. In 1962 he played three hundred forty-two shows—almost one per day. He was considered one of “The Three Kings of Blues Guitar”, along with Albert and Freddie—none of them were related.
We’ll never know how much more great music we were going to get from Stevie Ray Vaughn. He tragically was killed in a helicopter accident after performing a concert with Eric Clapton, in Wisconsin. When Clapton first heard him on the radio, he stopped the car to listen and said, “I have to find out before the day is over who that guitar player is.” You can hear Stevie’s influence in the Blues music of John Mayer and Kenny Wayne Shepard.
Tomorrow, the players that are helping to keep the Blue alive.