Over the last week or two, a very good local blues and r&b band here in New Orleans parted ways with their fireball of a female vocalist. She made the judgement call to keep her marriage intact, but the band reeled with this decision, and knowing they'd be cancelling several immediate gigs including their NYE show. I've sat in with them several times in the past, and have become friends with them. So, being in the right place at the right time(I guess), they want to back me as their frontman.
First, I have the task of rebuilding their setlist. I've preened the obviously female-sung tunes, and kept mostly the blues tunes-but there's nowhere near enough for a 3 to 4 hour set. So, I've been listening to my collection of music and Pandora and jotting down tunes as they strike me as being good material. I'd like to enlist the help of you on the forum, as I value your opinions. What tunes would you LOVE to hear a blues band play? I'm familiar with a lot of older standards and artisits, but I really don't have a lot of newer material, regrettably. I'd like to know of material by some of the newer bands and artists that are worth showcasing. As a hint, though, this band consists of a sold bass player, drummer and guitarist-all mainly in the more tradional vein. Not to say that anything by JR & NB is out of the question, but I think you get my drift. I'm interested in both upbeat, jumping and swingin' stuff, as well as great slow blues, too. I thank you in advance for the help, and for any eye-opening new music you turn me on to(still diggin' the Son of Dave I discovered on here, thanks to y'all!)
Last Edited by on Jan 11, 2010 8:20 AM
Love Me Tonight by John Nemeth...anything off that album! You can't go wrong with Butterfield either. ---------- Mike Fugazzi http://www.myspace.com/niterailband http://www.youtube.com/user/NiteRail http://www.twitter.com/NiteRail http://www.facebook.com/mike.fugazzi
Can't wait to get home and check these out! As for Butterfield, all I own is the first one, and the notable tracks on there are all covers. If you know any of his stuff specifically by name, lay it on me, and I'll be sure to check it out.
Five Long Years by many great artists - and check out Mississippi Heat - a great band ! ---------- Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art. - Charlie Parker
I've only been playing blues for a couple of years. I sing and play slide guitar every Wed and Sat at the local blues bar. I'm not the greatest harp player, I'm still learning. I did some research and found I like the stuff from the late 40's and 50's mostly. Chess Records. I'm getting a band together and I've built a set list of songs for us to do, these are the songs I plan on doin...
Hoochie Coochie Man - Muddy Waters Mannish Boy - Muddy Waters Got My Mojo Workin - Muddy Waters Rock Me Baby - Muddy Waters/B.B. King I Feel Like Goin Home - Muddy Waters Rollin And Tumblin - Muddy Waters Sweet Little Angel - B.B. King When My Heart Beats Like a Hammer - B.B. King Woke Up This Morning - B.B. King Smokestack Lightning - Howlin Wolf How Many More Years - Howlin Wolf Little Red Rooster - Howlin Wolf Killing Floor - Howlin Wolf Evil - Howlin Wolf Goin Down Slow - Howlin Wolf Sittin On Top Of The World - Howlin Wolf Dust My Broom - Elmore James/Robert Johnson The Things I Used To Do - Elmore James Skake Your Money Maker - Elmore James Give Me Back My Wig - Hound Dog Taylor Have You Ever Loved A Woman - Freddy King Help - Sonny Boy Williamson Fattening Frogs For Snakes - Sonny Boy Williamson Key To The Highway - Big Bill Broonzy Little Walter - Mean Old World Sweet Home Chicago
And Jon, since you're IPod loading, here's a few that are already on my list:
Pawn Shop Bound-William Clarke Blues With A Feeling-the Butterfield version Off the Wall-Little Walter Willie the Wimp-the SRV version(I play a Rotovibe for a Hammond organ feel) Got Love if you want it-Slim Harpo Sugar Coated Love-Lazy Lester
And there were some more semi-obscure and newer ones that I have on my list(not with me)that I'll post for you later.
What Satan and Adam tunes should I check out? Also, where can I download them-Amazon?
Was just listening to 'I'm a King Bee' while I was reading your post... And thought I'd love to hear something like that played live. A lot of it sounds very bass driven which is a sound I like!
If you're a purist that likes to play with the Audience have the band play the riff for Wang Dang Doodle and get the crowd whipped up about getting everybody into a "Blues Frame of Mind" see your bartender, have him fill you up and you know you're there when the foot starts a tappin', the head starts a bobbin and if'n you don't know how to get in a Blues frame of Mind cause you come from a "Good Home" or a "Fine Family" Todd and the boys is gonna help you right out with this lil riff we can do Blues 101 and don't worry cause I've seen these boys go "all night long" and back in the day we used to call this a "Wang Dang Doodle"!!! and then let a good screaming Harp lick fly. It always helps to get the folks all whipped up!! If it starts to slow down later I suggest "Framed"
Here are 2 favorites--impossible to sit still when these are played, a bit outside the traditional blues thing (but not too much), and lend themselves nicely to harp: JJ Cale, "Call me the Breeze" and Delbert McClinton, "Shaky Ground".
few of my Muddy Waters favorites- 'Crosseyed cat' & 'The blues had a baby..' from the Hard again album and 'Goin to Kansas city' from the woodstock album ---------- My granddad gave me some sound advice on his deathbed. "It's worth spending money on good speakers," he told me.
Aw You NEED some funk! I'm talking like james brown, sly and the family stone, average white band, isley brothers, stevie wonder, parliment funkadelic, marvin gaye, the meters, the nite liters etc. A lot of that is really fun and easy to play along with but hard to coordinate in a band situation though, it'll probably take some work. Your guys gotta know whats up. Oh a really fun one that not to hard is Use Me- Bill Withers.
If your band is good enough (once again) you should get some Allman Brothers and Hendrix going, anything from Live at the Fillmore East and Band of Gypsys would kill! BB King-get off of my back baby, Albert King- (I Love) Lucy (has the SICKEST groove at the beginning and end, the words kind of suck though...especially for a harp player haha).
If you want AWESOME instrumental jazz fusion type stuff try like A Go Go- John Scofield or Little Walter Rides Again- Medeski Scofield Martin and Wood.
@ wally-this is New Orleans-we do funk 24/7! Acutally, there's WAY too many Meters-esque and Galactic-esque funk bands in NO, but I do like a funk/blues mix.
Thanks, Blind...I'll look at it later(it's blocked at work) BTW, my list is lookin' good between these suggestions, some of my own, and the band's existing list. I'm about ready to lay it on them, having finally shaken a nasty cold. I appreciate all the input! ---------- Todd L. Greene, V.P.
This tune, Junior's Wailing, by the relatively unknown English band Steamhammer is a really great way to start off a set. It absolutely depends on the guitar player getting the cool timing they use. We play it a bit faster, and it is not too hard to do a better job with the harp than they do :-)
There are a lot of great songs listed. hard to add to all of those great songs. So, here's a link to the lyrics to a lot of those classics in case you don't have them. It's in one pdf file which makes it convenient. There's 71 songs in the file.
http://www.jt30.com/jt30page/bluescheat.html
A juke joint I go to features a lot of hill country blues bands doing r.l. burnside, junior kimbrough, etc., etc. Their songs really pull the people out to the dance floor.
