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bullgoose · 04-27-2003, 06:55 AM

I've been a blues fan for a good number of years; there's a tendancy amoung blues afficianados to classify different blues, but it's gotten to the point where it's just plain silly. In the early days, when the musicians weren't as mobile as they are now (LOTS of the early artists WALKED where they were going; couldn't afford a car.) there were some real regional differences; for instance Blind Willie McTell was from the southeast or Piedmont area; Robert Johnson was a Mississippi or delta bluesman; the differences were real, because a bluesman that was very well known in a local area had never been heard of 50 miles away.
I realise I've gotten away from the point, but labeling something as "R&B" is just silly; a LOT of R&B tunes are very old songs; I'd be willing to bet that "Hootchie-Cootchie Man" is damn near a hundred years old; I KNOW it was around in the 1920's; I've seen it credited to Willie Dixon; the question is, which Willie Dixon? No one seems to know exactly how many Willie Dixons there were. I DO remember when Led Zepplin got sued for violating copyrights for a couple of songs that they thought were in the public domain, but the writer was still alive and had a valid copyright; he sued and won.
All a blues lover can do is just skip the labels and enjoy the music.

04-27-2003, 06:55 AM	#2 (permalink)
bullgoose Insane Location: Central N.Y.	I've been a blues fan for a good number of years; there's a tendancy amoung blues afficianados to classify different blues, but it's gotten to the point where it's just plain silly. In the early days, when the musicians weren't as mobile as they are now (LOTS of the early artists WALKED where they were going; couldn't afford a car.) there were some real regional differences; for instance Blind Willie McTell was from the southeast or Piedmont area; Robert Johnson was a Mississippi or delta bluesman; the differences were real, because a bluesman that was very well known in a local area had never been heard of 50 miles away. I realise I've gotten away from the point, but labeling something as "R&B" is just silly; a LOT of R&B tunes are very old songs; I'd be willing to bet that "Hootchie-Cootchie Man" is damn near a hundred years old; I KNOW it was around in the 1920's; I've seen it credited to Willie Dixon; the question is, which Willie Dixon? No one seems to know exactly how many Willie Dixons there were. I DO remember when Led Zepplin got sued for violating copyrights for a couple of songs that they thought were in the public domain, but the writer was still alive and had a valid copyright; he sued and won. All a blues lover can do is just skip the labels and enjoy the music. __________________ "If I had it to do all over, I'd do it all over you."