12bars wrote:she has a variety of stuff that ranges from blues to rock. (im talking here about her blues stuff: "one good man", "summer time", "ball and chain".) are these songs blues, or blues-rock? what is the diffrence? for me, the diffrence is whether the rythym section is in the pocket or not. hers definantly lays back.
I've never heard a formal definition of blues rock so this is based on what I hear, having listened to a lot of it:
I think of blues-rock as that which is louder and less improvisational than electric blues. The soloing and overall writing are more simplified from electric blues. I don't think of the artists who created it as being strictly one or the other, because there are far too many exceptions. Blues-rock is not simply electrified blues. Electrified or not, Blues is farther back on the beat and what I would think of as more simplistic in structure, but more improvisational in soloing. I would be enclined to think of Janis Joplin as predominantly blues-rock and folk, although depending on who you ask is referred to as a blues singer. Go figure.
Blues-rock is what I would consider most of Eric Clapton's late 60s-70s recordings with Cream and other assorted groups and solo work as most clearly definable as blues-rock. Stuff like "Layla" as well as most of the rest of
The Cream of Clapton. Clapton bemoaned the Yardbirds as straying from their blues roots, but pretty much all he has done since then has been in varying degrees is straying from his blues roots. But I always liked Jimmy Page better, who did his straying in the 80s when I was still carrying a Trapper Keeper.
A lot of rock released between the late 60s-mid 70s could be classified as such. Some early Zeppelin is straight-up blues, other stuff is either a mixture of blues and rock, or what I would consider straight-up rock. Some Hendrix could be blues-rock but again, mostly what I would consider either one or the other.
Stevie Ray Vaughan was predominantly blues sprinkled with some blues-rock, and Kenny Wayne Shepherd is more blues-rock than blues.
The White Stripes are either blues--"Stop Breaking Down" off their first album, "Death Letter" off of
De Stijl, "Ball and Biscuit" off of
Elephant or rock--"Seven Nation Army" and "Hypnotize" also from
Elephant. But I don't think I've ever heard a Stripes tune (and I have heard pretty much their entire catalog and quite a few live recordings) that I would consider blues-rock, and nothing I would really want to dance to.
How this relates to dancing is that I wouldn't use blues-rock for dancing, because it's a little simplistic and loud for my tastes. Off the top of my head, some good blues songs that I'd like within what I think you may be looking for:
"Slide Thing" Stevie Vaughan (yes, no Ray) and Double Trouble
In The Beginning
"Jelly 292" Jimi Hendrix
Blues
"How Many More Years" Howlin' Wolf
20th Century Masters
"Bo Diddley 1969" Bo Diddley
The Chess Box (strong Motown Flavor)
"Tail Dragger" Willie Dixon
The Original Wang Dang Doodle
"Crawlin’ Kingsnake Blues" John Lee Hooker
Boom Boom and other Favorites
"I-75 Boogie" Soledad Brothers
Soledad Brothers
"Are You Gonna Go My Way" Lenny Kravitz
The Unplugged Collection, Vol. 1