It’s okay to get the blues

June and July have so many gigs and festivals that it can be hard to keep up to date with everyone that is playing and sometimes there can be some cracking gigs that slip by un-noticed. One such tour at the moment which may not be getting the column inches compared to the others but is sure to be a great night out is the BB King and John Mayall tour. It’s hard to think of too many Blues guitarists with more experience and talent than Mayall and if there is, they’ve definitely worked with or been influenced by these two. When a guitar player has a name for his axe, you know its something special and there isn’t a more famously named guitar than BB Kings ‘Lucille’. It may be a woman’s name but the name just conjures up tremendous licks and driving rhythms and King still rocks out, regardless of his age.
Of course, John Mayall is no slouch either and when you think of Mayall, its hard not to think about Eric Clapton and all the other amazing names who featured in its line-up. With the exception of The Byrds or The Yardbirds, it’s hard to think of a band that had more famous names than the Bluesbreakers and even if you are unfamiliar with the music, you’ll instantly know some of the star turns who used the band as a stepping stone to even greater things. Eric Clapton cut his teeth there and then took bassist Jack Bruce to form Cream alongside Ginger Baker. Cream were probably the first ever supergroup and vied with The Jimi Hendrix Experience for the role of most scintillating rock trio of all time.
Cream owe a lot to the Bluesbreakers but so do Fleetwood Mac, especially their original main man Peter Green. Green may not have made it to the bands most commercial era but his early playing gave the band a huge cult following and very quickly made them a major name in the late 1960s gig scene. Fleetwood Mac also took John McVie from the Bluesbreakers, further emphaising the role of Mayall in the British rock scene and if that wasn’t enough, they also produced a key guitarist for the Rolling Stones.
Okay, it wasn’t Brian Jones or Keith Richards but Mick Taylor was a major part of the Stones early 70s sound, which remains many peoples favourite era as it was the time when the band really gelled and produced a run of great albums. Mick Jagger may believe its all due to his vocals and struts but there was so much more to the Stones than his big lips.
So the proof of the Blues pudding is in the eating but even if you don’t like the Bluesbreakers, the songs and styles of so many more acts will be channelled during the shows. Whether it’s the old devil at the crossroads authentic blues styles of people like Robert Johnson or Lead Belly or the later, electrified stomp of Howling Wolf or John Lee Hooker, there’s a style of blues music to appeal to everyone. All of which goes to show, there is no age barrier to great Blues music and there is something major to get your teeth into this week.