Is "the blues" alive?

When I first started this gig my first posting was Son House... my all-time favorite blues man telling us what the blues was. Then breaking into exactly that. It is a terrific video and it may never be surpassed. I love the blues. I have spent a good part of my life listening to the original blues, the "finding" of the blues in the 60's (by the Brits), the updating of the blues, the retro blues with the 50's sound, the half hearted attempt to meld rap with the blues, metal with the blues (how many notes can you fit in one bar)... and the stripping of the blues... which when done well is very satisfying. What I rarely see is something totally original. I mean really original. I love it when some hot musician take on an old blues song and makes it his own. Shit, I even like it when sometimes they do direct ripoffs of old blues guys. Lets face it. Most of us have never heard the originals so the update or ripoff is great. Now there are a number of musicians out there who are doing original blues and doing a great job of it. A lot of them have found new formulas and they may throw in a traditional blues song and rip it up a little.

But what is just so different that it stands out. What is the best blues recording in our lifetime? I don't mean who cuts the best riff. I mean who wrote the best songs... not one song...an entire recording of songs that is just in you. That tells you stories even if you don't listen to the words. That forces you to stop and listen. I want you all to tell me what is the best new recording that you have heard..."new" music... that has altered the way we see the blues. I don't mean cut yesterday. I mean not written in 1920 and replayed by Jimi or Jimmy or Eric. The reason I say this is I listen to a lot of music. I want to be turned on to something that is so great that I will want to listen to it over and over... and not just to hear the riff.

I just posted a tune by Long Gone Miles. I hadn't heard it in a long time and forgot how great it was!

The same thing happened in my car today. Now don't get your hair all in knot when I say it was Macy Gray.

Macy Gray's first recording may be the best new blues recording I have heard in a very long time. I have had it for many years but I was listening to it today and it is just so great! It is poetry... pure and simple... with a modern spin but the real deal!

Tell me what to listen to!!

Here's Macy Gray!!