Terry Evans and the Blues


Category: Music

Blues, fron high NRG Chicago to deep Delta is one of my favorite categories of music. I don't usually pay much attention to music reviews as I've been burned too many times in the past. But several years ago, Stereophile recommended Terry Evan's "Blues For Thought", and I agreed that it was great both sonically and musically.

He had excellent follow-ups with "Puttin' It Down", and "Come to the River"-- both on the Audioquest label. In 2000 he released two CDs, "Walk Tht Walk" on Telarc-- and not that good IMO, but his other "Mississippi Magic", again on Audioquest is excellent, and T. Evans is back to top form. I can really recommend his recordings to all music lovers, and I think some may be available on vinyl too-- BTW, Ry Cooder plays slide guitar on some of Evan's recordings.

Blues artists such as T. Evans and Keb Mo' are artistically at their peaks, IMO. Are there others out there that are in the same league, (or maybe emerging) as these two that blues fans can recommend? Thanks. Craig.
garfish
I didn't mention Doug Macleod because you are probably on to him but his latest on Audioquest "Whose Truth Whose Lies? is absolutely fabulous if you have a player get the SACD version.Try Olu Daras, In The World first & if you like that get the newest which is all over the musical map. Olu plays guitar but he also plays the cornet. To hear a blues tune where the lead instrument isn't a guitar or harmonica but a horn is fascinating because he makes it sound so natural. HE's no slouch on lead guitar either. Larry W.
Hello Craig: If you like Keb Mo's style, (I do), then you really should run out and aquire GUY DAVIS'; BUTT NAKED FREE
CD. This is acoustic guitar blues, by whats looking to be a major talent to me. The recording is SOTA quality to boot. This is real Missisipi Delta blues. No psuedo wannabe here! The opening track is worth the price of admission alone. This is a not to be missed CD. Thanks for listening........Frank
A classic that I never get tired of is Junior Wells "Hoodoo Man Blues" (Delmark)... this performance was probably the first LP by a Chicago blues band. The performance is damn good, probably the best in my collection...Junior is on and he has Buddy Guy with him on guitar... recording on CD is good considering that it was originally released in 1965.. don't expect audiophile quality... you can pick it up cheap.. I find myself playing this cd more than all of those that I have by Terry Evans and Might Sam, which are also very good

For good performance/ excellent recording try Drink Small "Electric Blues Doctor Live" (Mapleshade..try their website) and Roy Gaines "I got the T-Bone Walker Blues" (Groovenote)....
Hi Craig,
There are a couple of very interesting cd's that combine the music of West Africa and American Blues. Of course the roots of the blues are in West AFrica. A good sampler album is Mali to Memphis on the Putumayo album. A simply fantastic album is Kulanjan with Taj Mahal and Toumani Diabite. Also, the two famous albums by Ali Farka Toure, Talking Timbuktu (with Ry Cooder) and Niafunke (Grammy nominated). This makes for a truly facinating study. Of course, Muddy Waters is where it's all at too. Todd