Buying the Blues

I just spent about an hour in a large chain record store looking for blues CDs, and I can understand why the music is so undervalued.


There are miles and miles of aisles full of rap and hip hop - which is understandable - and a fairly hefty assortment of pop,rock and rthymn and blues - which is also predictable. This particular big national multi-multi-location retailer even had decent slices of jazz - half an aisle - and classical - the other half of the same aisle. Unfortunately, the blues section seemed to be a carefully guarded secret, compelling me to ask a clerk where it was. He lead me to a measly few rows of CDs tucked behind a pillar. I was a little dubious, but began dutifully examining the selection anyway. After all, maybe I'd luck out and find some decent Albert Collins, or a Chicago anthology or some boogie woogie piano.


It was bad enough that the category was so small, but even worse when I discovered that most of the CDs were B.B. King or John Lee Hooker - at least one row of each artist. I like both of them quite a bit, but the assumption is the record store realizes that the long, rich history of the blues encompasses more than two players, whose product had already taken up 30% of the paltry space devoted to the genre. The next biggest category was the anthologies, occupying another 30% of the selection. I always get excited when I see titles like "Masters of the Blues Guitar" or "Greatest Hits" but my enthusiasm quickly dissipates when I took at the list of cuts, and discover that there are maybe two - possibly three - good songs, the rest being fill.


I was down to the remaining 40% of the blues content, except I began finding other CDs mixed in that had nothing to do with blues, apparently dumped there either by mistake or because the record store staff didn't know the artists. There were quite a few Taj Mahals but most of them looked like remixes of remixes, and, of course, a whole stack of Robert Johnsons. No Paul Butterfield, a couple of copies of Albert King's greatest hits, a little Howling Wolf, and that was about it. True, there was one Buddy Guy CD - one - and a couple of Muddy Waters, but no Albert Collins, or Memphis Slim, or Jimmy Reed or Elmore James or Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee or even Sonny Boy Williamson. I'm beginning to understand why so many kids think Eric Clapton is the original blues guitarist.


After much reflection, I ended up with a Robert Johnson - since I never have bought a Robert Johnson CD - an Albert King CD and one called "The Great Women Blues Singers", which actually looks pretty good. It makes me wonder, though, how much shelf space will be left when I come back, and if I'm the only one buying these CDs.


How about those links:
John Mayall - http://www.johnmayall.com/
Bruce Burnside - http://www.bruceburnside.com/
Scott Allen - http://www.milomusic.com/
Martha Davis and the Motels - http://www.marthadavis.com/
RI International Film Festival - www.RIFF.org
The Cutlass Three - myspace.com/thecutlassband
William Topley - www.williamtopley.com