50 Electric Blues Guitar Licks

Recently headlining the blues stage at The Montreal Jazz Festival, Beale Street’s latest success story, 5-time Blues Blast Music Award Nominee and International Blues Challenge Runner-up is Ghost Town Blues Band. Not your grandpa’s blues band, their live show has been captivating audiences in the U.S., Canada and Europe with their "second-line horn entrance," cigar box guitars and electric push brooms to Allman Brothers style jams and even a hip-hop trombone player. The band's stage show and energy is unparalleled and has been called the best new live blues show in the world.

Kenny "Blue" Ray has appeared on close to 40 recordings, including appearances with Stevie Ray Vaughan, Marcia Ball, Ronnie Earl, Charlie Musselwhite, Anson Funderburgh, and many others. "KBR" was an Original member of the 1st Little Charlie & The Night Cats Band from 1975-1976, Having a BIG Time, with The Night Cats, then moved on to LA, working with William Clarke, and Smokey Wilson, and backing up Percy Mayfield, Big Joe Turner, Lowell Fulson, Big Mama Thorton, and then it was off to Austin, Texas for 4 years with the Marcia Ball Band. Since 92 Kenny Ray has done 13 cds and Produced and written 10 songs on Jackie Payne's JSP cd, Day in the Life of a BluesMan…….

Tom Principato is an American electric blues and blues rock singer, guitarist, and songwriter. Principato has recorded more than twenty albums over the years. Pat Metheny stated of Principato that "he has an enormous talent at telling stories in his solos; he doesn't play 'standard' licks." By the mid-1980s, Principato commenced his solo career, recording the live album, Blazing Telecasters, with Danny Gatton. It was eventually released in 1990. It was considered for a Grammy Award nomination. In 1988, Principato appeared at the Notodden Blues Festival. From that time onwards, Principato has recorded a string of solo albums, which have seen him accompanied by an ever changing backing ensemble. These include Smokin' (1985), I Know What You're Thinkin'… (1989), In Orbit (1991), Tip of the Iceberg (1992), In the Clouds (1995), and Really Blue (1998).

Deep in the Blues is a fascinating jam session between James Cotton, guitarist Joe Louis Walker, and jazz bassist Charlie Haden. The trio runs through a number of classic blues songs written by Muddy Waters, Percy Mayfield, and Sonny Boy Williamson and a few originals by Walker and Cotton. The sound is intimate and raw, which is a welcome change from Cotton's usual overproduced records.

Eddy Clearwater has had a tough time shaking his "Chuck Berry imitator" label, and he includes Berry-tinged numbers at the halfway point and end of this nice, if thoroughly derivative, urban blues set recorded in 1989 for Black and Blue with the familiar country boogie shuffle and tinkling licks. Clearwater could not do a set without the signature "Lay My Guitar Down," and this rendition is surging and enjoyable although inferior to the definitive one. Otherwise, it is a pile-driving and urgently performed date; Clearwater and Will Crosby swap slashing lines, crackling phrases, and answering fills. Clearwater's session contains several robust, entertaining passages, even if there is absolutely nothing you have not heard before.

Fanning the Flames is an erratic but impressive set from Tinsley Ellis. While his basic sound is indebted to Stevie Ray Vaughan, the guitarist borrows from every other major blues artist. Furthermore, he has a tendency to overplay his licks, giving the album a feeling of unfocused fury. That sound can be overwhelming, though; his technique is impressive, even if he doesn't know when to reign it in. As a consequence, Fanning the Flames may not be of interest to general listeners, but for guitar fans, there's plenty of music here to treasure.