10 live albums which capture the true heart of the blues
You don’t need to be technically proficient to play the blues. You’ve got to know what you’re doing, sure, but being a good blues musician is more about the heart than it is about the hands.
Give a musician like BB King three notes, and he would have you fall in love and break your heart all in one sitting, just with the way he played them. He’s just one example out of many, as the blues was a genre used to convey injustice and sadness, but that also instilled hope. Those who played it believed in it, and that resulted in a live sound that was more romantic than anything which had come before (or has come since). It was never what’s being played, but has always been about how people play it.
“Well, the blues may only be three chords, but the complexity is fascinating,” Billy Gibbons once said about the genre, “I’ve listened to those old blues records forever. And I can still learn something from these guys. These giants.”
These exciting pockets of music are what make the blues one of the greatest genres in the world, and if you really want to experience the best of it and begin to understand why it means so much to so many, you’ve got to start listening to the very best live albums.
The live albums that capture the heart of the blues:
Stevie Ray Vaughan – ‘Live at Montreux 1982 & 1985’
Over the 60 years that it’s been running, Montreux Jazz Festival has been home to some of the greatest performances in musical history. In 1982 and 1985, it got two helpings of unbridled blues, as Stevie Ray Vaughan rocked up and delivered two separate sets dripping in the sweet-sounding music which he became famous for championing. There are few who can get real-world emotion out of a six-string as effectively as Vaughan.
“He was one of the best ever. You know, he was really, really tremendous,” said Mark Knopfler when talking about how special a musician Vaughan was, “Especially later on. You know, I thought that uhm… something was happening where the [Jimi] Hendrix and Buddy Guy influences were giving way to some real powerful stuff. He’s one of the best I’ve ever heard. No question.”
Rory Gallagher – ‘Irish Tour 74’
Sometimes, it’s hard to put into words why an artist resonates with listeners; they just do, and this is especially the case with the blues. A musician will play with a sense of emotion, heartbreak and passion that isn’t tangible but can be drawn out of a song almost effortlessly. This is the romantic nature of the whole thing, and the genre can be heard in full force on Rory Gallagher’s Irish Tour 74 live album.
“I don’t think you get the blues, it’s something you’re born with. That feeling or that mood that blues gives you,” said Gallagher, “I don’t think it has to be a purist sort of approach, or academic, you just feel it, you want to express yourself in a moody way. I don’t think it’s an American thing or European, you just do it.”
The Allman Brothers – ‘At Fillmore East’
The blues wasn’t just a genre that existed in one moment in time. When the ‘60s came around, people started leaning more towards rock music, and while it was a different style of sound, the blues was heavily entrenched in what a lot of bands were playing. The Allman Brothers were clearly influenced by the blues, and you could hear it wonderfully in both their recorded and live sets.
Don Felder of the Eagles once said the band were one of the greatest he had ever heard, and when you listen to them perform live, he certainly has a point. “They were just an incredible talent,” said Felder, “The combination of Gregg’s voice and Duane’s guitar was just immaculate. It was probably the best southern/rock/blues/slide guitar/ soulful voice combination I had ever heard and still is to this day. The writing and performing was just amazing.”
Howlin’ Wolf – ‘Killing Floor’
The issue with picking Howlin’ Wolf for a list like this is choosing which live album is his greatest, given he was such a prolific live performer. “Howlin’ Wolf, to me, was the greatest live act,” admitted Bob Dylan, “Because he did not have to move a finger when he performed, if that’s what you’d call it, ‘performing’.”
His Killing Floor album might arguably be one of his best. All recorded live, you can hear the passion in every single second of music that he puts out. It’s truly something to marvel at, and Bob Dylan seems to be proven right, as a man who can only ever be described as one of the best live acts on the planet shows everyone what he’s made of.
Muddy Waters – ‘Muddy “Mississippi” Waters Live’
Keith Richards was never a big fan of The Rolling Stones’ first original track, ‘As Tears Go By’, because the band had originally gotten together over a love of Muddy Waters, and he didn’t feel as though this song was anything like that. “Suddenly, ‘Oh, we’re songwriters,’ with the most totally anti-Stones sort of song you could think of at the time,” he said, “While we’re trying to make a good version of [Muddy Waters’] ‘Still A Fool’.”
‘As Tears Go By’ went to number one, by the way. So, if you ever need convincing just how much of a prolific musician Muddy Waters was, just remember that Richards would have taken having a song that sounded like the blues man over a number one single. That quality which Waters had both in his singing and his playing rings through on the Muddy “Mississippi” Waters Live, which is a masterclass in what blues music should sound like. Talk about a truly stunning effort, it simply doesn’t get better than this.
Albert King – ‘In Session’
Another great thing about a blues live album is the freedom that comes with them. Artists can play a select number of songs, that’s a given, but they can also play around with different techniques and styles. They can also bring special guests on stage to perform with them, which is what Albert King does on the tremendous record In Session.
This willingness to collaborate and share a moment with other musicians is intrinsically linked with the blues, so it’s great to hear it celebrated on this album, where he brings another blues legend, Stevie Ray Vaughan, with him, and it elevates the record entirely. “They did a duet album which they recorded in Canada,” said Mick Jagger when discussing his love for the record, “So, every track is just a knockout, I think.”
John Lee Hooker – ‘Live at Cafe Au Go Go’
Hooker knew just how much emotion he could embed into his musicianship, as he told other musicians that there was no way they could match what he did on his six-string. He said, “You can’t go no deeper than me and my guitar”.
His entire life is flooded with quotes like this, where he praises the blues and the intuitive nature that those who play it have. “You can’t write the blues, you just feel the blues,” he once said, and another time, he said, “The blues tells a story. Every line of the blues has meaning”. I could reel off his passionate quotes all day, but instead, allow Hooker to put his money where his mouth is, as you can listen to his great emotive work on the live album Live at Cafe Au Go Go.
Robert Nighthawk – ‘1964 Live On Maxwell Street’
Maxwell Street was an area in Chicago where musicians would gather in order to play great songs. As such, when Robert Nighthawk returned to the ‘Windy City’ after some time away in 1964, it only seemed right that he went back to Maxwell Street to perform. The set was recorded, and the result is one of the greatest pieces of blues music out there.
This is something else that live blues music can highlight that you don’t see in other genres. It wasn’t just Nighthawk’s playing that captivated those listening; it was the fact that he had returned to somewhere he was familiar with. He wasn’t from Chicago, but he had played there a lot, and so those notes and that amazing record, it’s more than music, it’s a welcome back.
Buddy Guy / Junior Wells – ‘Drinkin’ TNT ‘N’ Smoking Dynamite’
Buddy Guy and Junior Wells worked together on a number of occasions, but perhaps one of their best records is the compilation Drinkin’ TNT ‘N’ Smokin Dynamite. End to end, this is nothing but great blues music performed by even greater musicians. You really can’t beat an album like this, and it even features a few snippets from musicians such as Muddy Waters and Pinetop Perkins.
Buddy Guy managed to get a lot of his unique sound from playing the Stratocaster, a guitar which wasn’t used for the blues much at the time. “Man, that guitar: you could hit a note on that guitar and hold it until next week,” he said, “People look at you and ask, ‘Is that you still playing?’ Because it still looks like it’s holding that sound too long.” Ever the innovator, ever one of the very best blues musicians.
BB King – ‘Live at The Regal’
The show opens with a proclamation that BB King is the greatest blues singer in the world, and throughout the album, he proves that statement true. The range of emotion on display, the sadness, the love, the longing, and the jovial back and forth he has with the audience, feels so intimate and sweet that it’s as if King is in the room playing just for you in that moment, making for a great live album that completely captures what the blues are supposed to sound like, and it holds its essence close.
Jeff Beck learnt a lot from this album, as he said that King’s playing style and microphone technique were one of the many gateways into his obsession with the guitar. “I was into blues around 1963 and stumbled across this,” he said in an interview with Express, “It’s an electrifying live performance of blues guitar, and BB is a master of microphone technique. He brings his music down to a whisper, then bursts out with amazing solos.”
