50 Electric Blues Guitar Licks

J.T. Coldfire is a Texas bluesman, based in Austin. J.T. is a long haul player, logging in nine hours for a three show night without any repeats. He opens ‘Crazy Sun’ with some Delta blues channeled through “Pistol Lead”, walks “White Collar Street Life” uptown, keeping company with some slow cooked blues riffs, keeps “No Time For Sleepin’” wide awake with caffeinated rhythms and riffs so sharp they could cut through the strongest cup of joe and high steps “Hangin’ Tree” into the next life to find some peace. J.T. Coldfire struts and slides, rapid riffs and laid back licks with a lifetimes worth of blues textures jammed into his songs.

Guitarist, singer, and songwriter Tom Principato has long been a regional star in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. He has toured nationally around the U.S., Canada, and Europe, but often the venues are clubs. His particular blend of blues-rock is highly specific; jazz guitar master Pat Metheny said of Principato, "He has an enormous talent at telling stories in his solos; he doesn't play 'standard' licks." Raised in suburban Washington, D.C., his early guitar-playing heroes included Roy Buchanan and Danny Gatton. He listened to his parents' recordings by the likes of Chet Atkins and the Benny Goodman Sextet with Charlie Christian, and like a lot of kids, discovered the power of Chicago blues in his high-school years.

Charlie Musselwhite takes four different approaches on this Alligator release. On two tracks, he turns to guitar, proving a competent instrumentalist and convincing singer in a vintage Delta style. He also does two gospel numbers backed by the legendary Blind Boys of Alabama, which are heartfelt, but not exactly triumphs. Musselwhite reveals his jazz influence on three tracks, making them entertaining harmonica workouts. But for blues fans, Musselwhite's biting licks and spiraling riffs are best featured on such numbers as "If I Should Have Bad Luck" and "Leaving Blues." Despite the diverse strains, Musselwhite retains credibility throughout while displaying the wide range of sources from which he's forged his distinctive style.

Few others besides avant-garde composer/instrumentalist Elliott Sharp could record a collection of blues songs and make them sound like a new genre altogether, a sort of blues/folk/jazz/new age sound with droning keyboards, slinky reverbed vocals, sinuous guitar parts, and angstful horns. The album is by turns haunting, sexy, volatile, and soothing