Please Suggest 50's-era Blues Artists (Non-Chess)

[joealso]

I love the sound of those 1950's era recordings but I'm pretty familiar with most of ones on Chess (Muddy, Bo, Wolf, Little Walter, Willie Dixon, Hubert, John Lee Hooker, etc.)

Who don't I know about that has fallen off the radar? Gimme some suggestions and maybe post some clips for me if you don't mind.

Thanks!

 

[Dan Estock]

Guitar Slim
Johnny guitar Watson’s early sides

 

[LeftyBlues]

I count BB King as 50s and at that point, might as well consider the other 2 kings, Albert and Freddie, as well (even though they are more early 60s). Especially BB though, Live at the regal and Cook County are excellent live albums, with Cook County having a more 50s vibe half-way through.

 

[joealso]

Guitar Slim

Right - I forgot about "Things That I Used To Do" (no pun intended). I'll check out some more of his stuff. Thanks!

I count BB King as 50s and at that point, might as well consider the other 2 kings, Albert and Freddie, as well (even though they are more early 60s). Especially BB though, Live at the regal and Cook County are excellent live albums, with Cook County having a more 50s vibe half-way through.

I've got a copy of Live at the Regal. Brilliant! But I've never listened to the Cook County one. I'll check it out. Thank you!

 

[Dan Estock]

 

[Robert Alger]

Elmore James

T-bone Walker

Jimmy Reed



BB King 1950, long before live at the regal

 

[Bellacaster]

Clarence Gatemouth Brown, early Magic Sam, and Otis Rush.

 

[donrichfan]

James Cotton

 

[donrichfan]

Pat hare

 

[oldunc]

Not too up on eras or labels, but some names suggest themselves- Robert Nighthawk, Cleanhead Vinson, Lightnin' Hopkins, Percy Mayfield, maybe Otis Spann (Chess?), Big Mama, probably a million more. If you want to get into country blues, a lot of the greats were still active.

 

[Rick Schmidlin]

Lightning Hopkins and Jimmy Reed, also Screaming Jay Hawkins.

 

[elihu]

Slim Harpo and Lazy Lester.

 

[Flaneur]

Best. Intro. Ever.

 

[joealso]

Pat hare

Now, THAT'S what I'm talking about! WOW! Thank you

 

[donrichfan]

Now, THAT'S what I'm talking about! WOW! Thank you

"I just thought you'd like to know, judge"
Yeah, Pat Hare was great and apparently kind of an eccentric.
He played on a lot of great Sun blues recordings.
Check out the Sun Blues recordings box set. Sam recorded a lot of really great forgotten R & B and blues guys.

 

[Killing Floor]

Pretty sure Lead Belly never worked with Chess.

 

[AlfaNovember]

I'm making my way through this huge collection of Blues, R&B, Boogie-Woogie, Rockabilly all recorded in Louisiana in the '50s. Lots of great stuff, and none of it I had heard before:

https://archive.org/details/swampbayouboogie

 

[Cadillac_Mike]

Non-Chess?

 

[Danb541]

I'm not familiar with who was Chess and who wasn't.
Mississippi John Hurt

 

[BroGreg]

Best. Intro. Ever.

This is the guitar tone I'm chasing. Just nasty. All suggestions on how I can get there are welcomed.