Been a long time Blues lover. Here's ma list! Enjoy. It contains commercial stuff, original stuff and it's all stuff I like!! This list is alphabetical so no one can say a song is my favourite. I've included a Spotify play list at the bottom, you'll need an account to listen to it!

Albert Collins – Sno-Cone, Parts 1 And 2
Albert King – Born Under a Bad Sign
B.B. King - The Thrill is Gone
Bessie Smith – Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out
Big Bill Broonzy – Get Back
Big Joe Williams – Baby Please Don’t Go
Big Mama Thornton – Hound Dog
Blind Lemon Jefferson – Matchbox Blues
Blind Willie McTell – Statesboro Blues
Bo Diddley – I’m a Man
Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland – Stormy Monday Blues
Buddy Guy – Stone Crazy
Cream - Sunshine Of Your Love
Elmore James - Dust My Broom
Elmore James – It Hurts Me Too
Etta James – I’d Rather Go Blind
Freddy King – I’m Tore Down
Howlin Wolf – Spoonful
Howlin’ Wolf – Evil
Howlin’ Wolf – Smokestack Lightning
Jimi Hendrix - Red House
Jimi Hendrix – Voodoo Chile
Jimmy Reed – Bright Lights, Big City
John Lee Hooker – Boogie Chillen
John Lee Hooker – Boom Boom
John Lee Hooker – Dimples
Junior Kimbrough – Do The Rump
Koko Taylor - Wang Dang Doodle
Leroy Carr – How Long, How Long Blues
Little Walter And His Jukes – My Babe
Lucille Bogan – Shave ’Em Dry
Muddy Waters – Got My Mojo Working
Muddy Waters – Hoochie Coochie Man
Muddy Waters – I Just Want to Make Love to You
Muddy Waters - Mannish Boy
Muddy Waters – Rollin’ and Tumblin’
Otis Rush – All Your Love
Otis Rush – I Can’t Quit You Baby
Otis Rush – Working Man
Professor Longhair – Big Chief
Robert Johnson - Crossroad Blues
Robert Johnson – Hellhound on My Trail
Robert Johnson – Me And The Devil Blues
Robert Johnson – Sweet Home Chicago
Robert Petway – Catfish Blues
Sonny Boy Williamson I - Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
Sonny Boy Williamson II – Help Me
Stevie Ray Vaughan - Pride and Joy
Stevie Ray Vaughan – Texas Flood
Taj Mahal – Leaving Trunk
T-Bone Walker – Stormy Monday
W.C. Handy - Memphis Blues
Willie Dixon - Spoonful
Willie Dixon – The Seventh Son



Add your own!

Fantastic list

Great list. I'd add a few more

Lead Belly - Goodnight Irene

Lightnin' Hopkins - Black and Evil

Memphis Slim - Born with the Blues

Mississippi John Hurt -Goodnight Irene

Paul Butterfield - Mystery Train

Robert Cray - Consequences

Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee - Trouble in Mind

Testament to how versatile the Blues is! Two very different versions of the same song.

Citroen has:

Mississippi John Hurt and Lead Belly both doing their version of Goodnight Irene

Johnny Cash does a pretty good version too.

Awesome!

My list deliberately excluded Field Hollers and work songs as, although they formed the basis of the blues, very little has been recorded (first done in 1930s)!

The first documented field holler is around the early 1850s and they have their roots in Oral African tradition. These songs set the stage for the whole Blues genre.

I excluded Billie Holiday as she's more known as a Jazz singer.

However I do love her Billie's Blues track amongst others.

Great list Jon. I don't consider myself a Blues buff by any means but as I read down the list it dawned on me I could bring 98% of the tunes/version to mind and I probably have 75% of them in one format or other. The only names I didn't recognise were Robert Petway and Lucille Bogan, I'll check them out now.

If you are at work, do not play the Lucille Bogan on desktop speakers, the lyrics are NSFW!

I've listed the safer version in the Spotify list, there is a very explicit version she did as well. Just so you don't miss where she was at!

Lyrics: genius.com/Lucille-bogan-shave-em-dry-lyrics

Johnny Winter - Progressive Blues Experiment

And others...

Tommy Johnson: Big Road Blues, Canned Heat Blues, Maggie Campbell
Skip James: Devil Got My Woman, Hard Time Killing Floor Blues

BTW, what IS "Classic" blues?

Classic...

Good question! I suspect we'll be able to define what is Classic, however there are a huge load of options and that's probably when we will be indulging in lots of animated discussion about whether a particular song is classic or not. Let's avoid it!