Fernando Sor Harpolyre - John Doan

Is this blues? I don't know but I like it!
John Doan, one of the few masters of the rare twenty-string harp guitar, has performed with a diverse range of artists including pop star Donovan, folk legend Burl Ives, jazz ace Larry Carlton, Mason Williams (of "Classical Gas" fame), as a member of the New Christy Minstrels with Randy Sparks, among others and his virtuoso playing and arranging has attracted praise from no less a guitar luminary than Chet Atkins. He recently contributed a chapter to "Between the Strings - the Secret Lives of Guitars" a veritable compendium of the world's greatest guitarists with introduction by B.B. King. He has appeared in numerous publications including the Washington Post and Billboard Magazine as well as staring in two much-loved television specials produced by Oregon Public Broadcasting: "A Christmas to Remember With John Doan" (seen on PBS) and his Emmy nominated "A Victorian Christmas With John Doan." His latest recordings on Hearts O' Space Records have been nominated for "Best Celtic Album of the Year" with Eire - Isle of the Saints winning that title. His music has also been featured on numerous prime-time television and movie productions including Walt Disney, among others. His latest video project is a 90 minute documentary that he wrote and starred in titled "In Search of the Harp Guitar." John recently hosted an International Harp Guitar Festival at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon where he is an Associate Professor of Music. He lives near Salem with his wife Deirdra atop of an extinct volcano overlooking the Willamette Valley (he is hoping his view will not be enhanced in the coming years).
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Ball And Chain - Social Distortion

Social Distortion is an American punk rock band formed in 1978 in Fullerton, California. The band currently consists of Mike Ness (vocals, guitars), Jonny Wickersham (guitars), Brent Harding (bass) and David Hidalgo, Jr. (drums).

Social Distortion temporarily disbanded in 1985, due to frontman Ness' drug addiction and troubles with the law, which resulted in extended stints in various rehabilitation centers, that lasted for two years. However, the band reformed around 1986 and have continued being active today, even after the death of longtime guitarist Dennis Danell, who succumbed to a brain aneurysm in 2000. Since its inception the band lineup has been a virtual revolving-door of talent, with many members coming and going – Ness has been the only constant member.

To date, Social Distortion has released seven full-length studio albums, two compilations, one live album and two DVDs. The band released its debut album Mommy's Little Monster in 1983, which was very popular in the United States. Social Distortion did not release a second album, Prison Bound, until 1988. That album attracted the attention of Epic Records, who signed the band in 1989 and issued their highly successful self-titled third album a year later, which peaked at number 128 on the U.S. Billboard 200, and featured their well-known hit singles "Ball and Chain", "Story of My Life" and the cover of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire." The next three albums, Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell, White Light, White Heat, White Trash, Sex, Love and Rock 'n' Roll and the Greatest Hits compilation (which spawned the previously unreleased hit "Far Behind") were also well-received. Their most recent studio album is 2011's Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes, which entered the Billboard 200 at #4, marking their highest entry on that chart. According to Ness, there is talk of an eighth studio album, which will likely be released in 2013.
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Paris Is Burning - St Vincent

She's playing a blues guitar... kinda looks like the kind Ry Cooder, David Lindley and Jimbo Mathus play ... oh yeah...I have one too! Sounds kinda sad.

Annie Erin Clark (born September 28, 1982) is an American multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter who performs under the moniker St. Vincent. She was a member of The Polyphonic Spree and also part of Sufjan Stevens' touring band, prior to forming her own band. Clark currently resides in Manhattan.

Her debut album, Marry Me (2007) was released to critical acclaim, and was followed by the more commercially-successful Actor (2009). Her third album, Strange Mercy, was released on September 13, 2011.

Clark has opened shows for such acts as Television, Arcade Fire, Andrew Bird, Jolie Holland, John Vanderslice, Xiu Xiu, Death Cab for Cutie, Cristina Donà and Grizzly Bear. She also worked with Bon Iver on the song "Roslyn", which appeared on the film soundtrack of The Twilight Saga: New Moon.

I like it!

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The Last Ride- Todd Rundgren

Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. Hailed in the early stage of his career as a new pop-wunderkind, supported by the certified gold solo double LP Something/Anything? in 1972, Todd Rundgren's career has produced a diverse range of recordings as solo artist, and during the seventies and eighties with the band Utopia. He has also been prolific as a producer and engineer on the recorded work of other musicians.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Rundgren engineered and/or produced many notable albums for other acts, including Straight Up by Badfinger, Stage Fright by The Band, We're an American Band by Grand Funk Railroad, Bat Out of Hell by Meat Loaf (now ranked as the fifth biggest-selling album of all time), and Skylarking by XTC. In the 1980s and 1990s his interest in video and computers led to Rundgren's "Time Heals" being the eighth video played on MTV, and "Change Myself" was generated on commercially available Amiga Computers.

His best-known songs include "Hello It's Me" and "I Saw the Light" which have heavy rotation on classic rock radio stations, and "Bang the Drum All Day" featured in many sports arenas, commercials, and movie trailers.
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Bag Lady - Erykah Badu

Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), better known by her stage name Erykah Badu (pronounced /ˈɛrɨkə bɑːˈduː/), is an American recording artist, record producer and actress. Her work includes elements from R&B, hip hop and jazz. She is best known for her role in the rise of the neo soul sub-genre, and for her eccentric, cerebral musical stylings and sense of fashion. She is known as the "First Lady of Neo-Soul" or the "Queen of Neo-Soul".

Early in her career, Badu was recognizable for wearing very large and colorful headwraps. For her musical sensibilities, she has often been compared to jazz great Billie Holiday. She was a core member of the Soulquarians, and is also an actress having appeared in a number of films playing a range of supporting roles in movies such as Blues Brothers 2000, The Cider House Rules, and House of D, she is also very prominent in the documentary film Before the Music Dies.
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If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night) - Meshell Ndegeocello

If you ever checked out Deep End DVD with Gov't Mule you'll know they're down with Mechell! Oh yeah...and she can REALLLY play bass!!

Meshell Ndegeocello (born Michelle Lynn Johnson, August 29, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, bassist, and vocalist. Her music incorporates a wide variety of influences, including funk, soul, hip hop, reggae, R&B, rock, and jazz. She has received significant critical acclaim throughout her career, and has had ten career Grammy Award nominations. She has been credited for having "sparked the neo-soul movement."

Ndegeocello was born Michelle Lynn Johnson in Berlin, Germany, to army lieutenant and saxophonist father Jacques Johnson and health care worker mother Helen. She was raised in Washington, D.C. where she attended Duke Ellington School of the Arts and Oxon Hill High School. In early press releases from Maverick Records her birth year was erroneously listed as 1969. The 1968 birth date has been confirmed through a previous manager and lifelong friend.[citation needed]

Named Michelle Lynn Johnson at birth, Ndegeocello has had numerous name changes. She adopted the surname Ndegeocello, which means "free like a bird" in Swahili. Meshell Ndegeocello is pronounced Mee-shell N-deh-gay-o-chel-o. Early pressings of Plantation Lullabies were stickered with the instructions. She has changed the spelling of this name a number of times during her career; however, the correct spelling of her stage name is now Meshell Ndegeocello.
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Gettin' In The Way - Jill Scott

Jill Scott (born April 4, 1972) is an American soul and R&B singer-songwriter, poet, and actress. In 2007, Scott made her cinematic debut in the films Hounddog (as Big Mama Thornton) and in Tyler Perry's feature film, Why Did I Get Married? That year, her third studio album, The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3, was released on September 25, 2007. She has won three Grammy Awards. She also appeared in the lead role of the BBC/HBO series The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.
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Elephant Talk - King Crimson

Is it Blues? King Crimson is typically known as a prog rock band. I like to think that there is blues in everything that's good. Here's a cut from King Crimson's Discipline cd. I hope you enjoy it.
Bman's Blues Report: Those Dreamin' Eyes

Across the Universe - Fiona Apple

Fiona Apple McAfee Maggart (born September 13, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter. Her 1996 debut album Tidal received a Grammy Award for the song "Criminal".
Born in New York City, Apple is the daughter of singer Diane McAfee and actor Brandon Maggart. Her older sister, Amber, sings cabaret under the stage name Maude Maggart. Her half brother Spencer is a director and directed the video for her single "Parting Gift". Her half brother Garett Maggart starred in the TV series The Sentinel. In addition, her maternal grandparents were Millicent Green, a dancer with the George White's Scandals, a series of 1920s musical revues similar to the Ziegfeld Follies, and Johnny McAfee, a multireedist and vocalist of the big band era; her grandparents met while touring with Johnny Hamp and his Orchestra.
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Violet - Courtney Love

You know the blues manifests itself where we'd never think to look. Courtney Love has the blues.

Hole is an American alternative rock band that originally formed in Los Angeles in 1989. The band is fronted by vocalist/songwriter and rhythm guitarist Courtney Love, who co-founded Hole with former songwriter/lead guitarist Eric Erlandson. Hole achieved considerable commercial and critical success throughout the 1990s.

The band made a splash in the underground rock scene in 1991 with their debut album, Pretty on the Inside, which was musically and lyrically abrasive, noted for its predominant punk and noise rock influence. Their second studio album, Live Through This (1994), which featured a more streamlined and grunge-oriented sound, received vast critical accolades upon release and has been regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time, as well as the group's most notable work.

As the band progressed into the later 1990s, they incorporated elements of pop rock into their sound; the band's third album, Celebrity Skin (1998), fused hard rock with various pop elements, contrasting to their rougher punk rock-oriented past. Celebrity Skin went on to be the band's most commercially successful album, garnering them immense critical attention as well as several Grammy nominations.

In 2009, seven years after disbanding in 2002, Love announced she was reforming Hole with former Larrikin Love guitarist Micko Larkin. Erlandson, however, stated that no reunion could take place contractually without mutual involvement between Love and Erlandson. On January 1, 2010, a website promoting Hole's latest release, Nobody's Daughter, was launched, with links to various social media pages including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and MySpace. The album was released on April 27, 2010.

Nashville Blues

Is this the blues...

Norman Blake (born March 10, 1938 in Chattanooga, Tennessee) is an instrumentalist, vocalist, and songwriter. In a career spanning more than 50 years Blake has played in a number of folk and Country groups. He is considered one of the leading figures in the Bluegrass revival of the 1970s and is still active today, playing concert dates and making albums with his wife Nancy Blake.
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Those Dreamin' Eyes

Michael Eugene Archer] (born February 11, 1974), better known by his stage name D'Angelo, is an American R&B and neo soul singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He is known for his production and songwriting talents as much as for his vocal abilities, and often draws comparisons to his influences, Marvin Gaye, and Prince. D'Angelo was one of the most influential artists during the rise of the neo-soul movement.
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Call Tyrone - Erykah Badu

Badu got the blues!

Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), better known by her stage name Erykah Badu (pronounced /ˈɛrɨkə bɑːˈduː/), is an American recording artist, record producer and actress. Her work includes elements from R&B, hip hop and jazz. She is best known for her role in the rise of the neo soul sub-genre, and for her eccentric, cerebral musical stylings and sense of fashion. She is known as the "First Lady of Neo-Soul" or the "Queen of Neo-Soul".

Early in her career, Badu was recognizable for wearing very large and colorful headwraps. For her musical sensibilities, she has often been compared to jazz great Billie Holiday. She was a core member of the Soulquarians, and is also an actress having appeared in a number of films playing a range of supporting roles in movies such as Blues Brothers 2000, The Cider House Rules, and House of D, she is also very prominent in the documentary film Before the Music Dies.
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Black Napkins - Frank Zappa

Is this Blues?

Frank Vincent Zappa (play /ˈzæpə/; December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer, and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, electronic, orchestral, and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers. Zappa produced almost all of the more than 60 albums he released with the band The Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist.

While in his teens, he acquired a taste for percussion-based avant-garde composers such as Edgard Varèse and 1950s rhythm and blues music. He began writing classical music in high school, while at the same time playing drums in rhythm and blues bands—he later switched to electric guitar. He was a self-taught composer and performer, and his diverse musical influences led him to create music that was often impossible to categorize. His 1966 debut album with the Mothers of Invention, Freak Out!, combined songs in conventional rock and roll format with collective improvisations and studio-generated sound collages. His later albums shared this eclectic and experimental approach, irrespective of whether the fundamental format was one of rock, jazz or classical. He wrote the lyrics to all his songs, which—often humorously—reflected his iconoclastic view of established social and political processes, structures and movements. He was a strident critic of mainstream education and organized religion, and a forthright and passionate advocate for freedom of speech, self-education, political participation and the abolition of censorship.

Zappa was a highly productive and prolific artist and gained widespread critical acclaim. Many of his albums are considered essential in rock and jazz history. He is regarded as one of the most original guitarists and composers of his time. He also remains a major influence on musicians and composers. He had some commercial success, particularly in Europe, and for most of his career was able to work as an independent artist. Zappa was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997.

Zappa was married to Kathryn J. "Kay" Sherman from 1960 to 1964. In 1967, he married Adelaide Gail Sloatman, with whom he remained until his death from prostate cancer in 1993. They had four children: Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet Emuukha Rodan and Diva Thin Muffin Pigeen. Gail Zappa manages the businesses of her late husband under the name the Zappa Family Trust.
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Fade Into You - Hope Sandoval

Is this blues?

Hope Sandoval (born June 24, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter who is the lead singer for Mazzy Star and Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions.

Sandoval has toured and collaborated with other artists, including vocals on Massive Attack's "Paradise Circus" (2010).

During live performances, Sandoval prefers to sing in near-darkness with only a dim backlight, playing the tambourine, harmonica, glockenspiel or shaker. She is reputed to have a shy personality, and rarely interacts with the audience.
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I Got a Feeling - Eagles of Death Metal

Is this the blues?

Eagles of Death Metal is an American rock band from Palm Desert, California, formed in 1998 by Jesse Hughes and Josh Homme. Despite their band name, Eagles of Death Metal are not a death metal band. Hughes stated that a friend was introducing Josh Homme to the death metal genre. When he played a song by the Polish band Vader and made a claim that the song was within the death metal genre, Homme then referred to Vader as "The Eagles of Death Metal". After hearing this phrase, he wondered what a cross between the Eagles and a death metal band would sound like. In a 2003 interview Homme described the sound of the band as a combination of "bluegrass slide guitar mixed with stripper drum beats and Canned Heat vocals." Jesse Hughes is known and loved by fans for his enthusiastic and charismatic interaction with audiences at live performances.
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Happiness is a Warm Gun - The Breeders

Did the Beatles have the Blues? I ask you again what is the blues. To me this is the blues... just played forward.

If you don't know the Breeders, Kim and Kelley Deal are twin sisters. Kim is the bass player in the band the Pixies.

I think that this is a terrific interpretation of an old song.
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Wang Dang Doodle - PJ Harvey

Does PJ Harvey Have the Blues?

Polly Jean Harvey (born 9 October 1969) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. She was raised in Corscombe, Dorset and Yeovil, Somerset. Her parents were both fans of American blues music. Their record collection exposed Harvey not only to the blues but also to Captain Beefheart, which would both become major influences on Harvey’s own musical style.

Harvey is primarily a vocalist and guitarist, but is also proficient with a wide range of instruments including piano, organ, bass, saxophone, and autoharp. She began her professional career in the early 1990s by forming a band she named PJ Harvey. She recorded her first two albums with this trio, and when they broke up she continued as a solo artist. Since 1995 she has recorded her albums with various musicians including John Parish, Rob Ellis, Mick Harvey, and Eric Drew Feldman. She has also worked extensively with the producer Flood.

Musically, Harvey dislikes repeating herself, resulting in albums that can sound different from one to the next. She has experimented with such diverse musical styles as rock, pop, electronica, and folk. She is also known for changing her appearance from album to album by altering her mode of dress or hairstyle. Each look is then incorporated into the album's artwork, music videos, and live performances. She often works closely with friend and photographer Maria Mochnacz in developing the visual style of each album.

Among the accolades she has received have been the 2001 Mercury Prize (for 2000's Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea), seven BRIT Award nominations, five Grammy Award nominations and two further Mercury Prize nominations. Rolling Stone named her 1992's Best New Artist and Best Singer Songwriter and 1995's Artist of the Year, and placed two of her albums (Rid of Me, To Bring You My Love) on its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. She was also rated the number one female rock artist by Q magazine in a 2002 reader poll and was awarded Outstanding Contribution To Music at the 2011 NME Awards.
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Turn To Stone - Joe Walsh

We all know that rock is just "jazzed up" blues. So where is the line? Joe Walsh is a really good guitar player and thins is his blues. Enjoy
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Am I Losing You - Jan Akkerman

This is a recent piece from Jan Akkerman, famed Dutch guitarist of Focus renown. Akkerman left Focus years ago and developed a more continental style over a number of releases. I think that this is terrific. Is it the blues. Doesn't sound like Robert Johnson but neither does Muddy Waters. I like it.
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