What was your first blues album?

Everyone has that one album where that moment occurred.  This moment is when you realized you were now a blues fan.  If you’re a blues fan, then odds are you are a fanatic blues connoisseur.  If you’re not a blues fan, then you never had this experience and you should STOP reading now.

Every blues fan I have met is very passionate about their knowledge of blues albums, and considers their list the best.  I am the same way, and think my picks are the best as well.  I guess this kinda comes with the territory.

So anyway, back to the point.  For me, I became a lover of the blues the moment I heard Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Texas Flood”.

I was just out of high school and really wanted to be a rock guitarist like Steve Vai, and Van Halen.  I was hanging out around Gulf Shores one day and a friend of mine said, “You ever heard of this guy?”  It was SRV’s “Texas Flood”.  I put the CD in and WOW!  Now this guy had some serious chops, but there were some really cool blues songs as well.  From that moment on I was hooked.  I then proceeded to get every SRV album, and them learned about where he got his style from.  Albert King, BB King, Otish Rush, and many more.

I now had to redefine what I wanted to learn.  I had been playing rock licks before and they were hard, but these were an entirely different animal.  The feel and vibrato were hard to copy.  Just because I could play the rock licks, did not mean I could pull off this style.  I was now determined to become a blues man.  What was the first blues album to turn you into a fan?

What was the first blues album that made you become a blues fan?  Let me know right underneath this post.

John W Tuggle
John W Tuggle

I love teaching the blues and have created numerous training courses and lessons to learn how to play like BB King, Clapton, Duane Allman, and more. Get Started Now

22 Comments

  1. My first blues album was a Chess Records sampler from around 1988. It had Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, BB King, Elmore James, Little Walter, and Jimmy Rodgers , to name but a few. I was hooked immediately.

    I saw BB live the following year, and have been in awe of the blues ever since. Lost count of the number of blues records and CDs I’ve bought.

    I too love SRV, and if you haven’t already, you should check out his In Session album with Albert King. It’s fantastic.

    Sadly I never saw either of them live on stage. But I do have a VHS of a TV recording called BB King and Friends, or something similar. It featured BB, Clapton, Albert, SRV, Paul Butterfield, Etta James, and Doctor John. Stunning. Just stunning.

  2. I was young in the late 60’s at a party & didn’t know anyone, just kind of checking everything out. I sat down on a couch in front of the sterio and someone put on an Albert King album and it totally blew me away. The album ended & I guess I was sitting there struck. The guy said ” you like that ” I said who was that ! That started It. Albert King, Michael Bloomfied & Claptons Beno album started a long and wonderful quest to hear it all and see as many of these greatrs as possible.

  3. Ahh, good ol’ Gulf Shores. I love that place. I vacationed there every year for more than 15 years.

    Now my first blues album was not my own. My younger brother brought this pale blue album home and payed it in our bedroom in ’70 or ’71. About the third song I asked him what the name of the album was.’Live at the Cook County Jail’ by BB King. I was hooked on the blues. Now mom and dad always had Ray Charles, Brook Benton, Otis Redding and the rest of the R&B and we all listened to them, but this BB King guy was different. His music went plumb thru me. Come to find out mom and dad also had old 45’s and 78’s of Sonny Boy, Big Mama Thornton, Leadbelly and tons of the old country blues put up in the closet. My brother and I didn’t how good we had it.I don’t have any single favorite but I think SRV was the man who brought the blues back into the mainstream with Texas Flood. That was an album that also blew me away.

  4. Hi John- in 1967 a guitar player friend told me – “You got to hear this guy’s tone”- It was Personal manager on the first Albert King album on chess – His tone totally blew me away and I’ve been into it ever since- I also was knocked out when I heared otis rush hit that first lick in ” I can’t Quit you Baby ” – I knew somthing very magical was going on, and it was his Vibrato- bending up a full step to the tonic note on the b string. – Texas Flood is my favorite SRV song ( the one you posted)- Regards to you and your Family- Paul Dickler

  5. Hi John, The first record to turn me on to the blues was lonnie mack, the wham
    of that memphis man, he played some great stuff on that record back in the sixties.

  6. I am older than youse guys and from the U.K…..I was turned on to blues when records were 78’s and acrylic ( I still got loads including Elvis fats domino etc etc )
    I was listening to the only radio station that played popular music which was in Luxembourg and all us kids listened to it late at night because there was absolutely nothing else at that time in 1956 …..and for some reason the Dj decided to play a Leadbelly track ……I was hooked and still am ……

  7. I got hooked on blues in the early sixties although I thought I was listening to rock. It was the bluesy songs by the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Bo Diddley, the Animals, Moody Blues and others that were my favorites. It was interesting to find out that although Chuck Berry was considered rock and roll, his riffs were taken from T-Bone Walker and played with Chuck’s rock style. After that I started listening to T-Bone, Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, Lightning Hopkins, and many others. I was off and running. By the way you have a great blog here. Keep up the good work.

  8. Hi John
    My first record I can remember buying was a 78 and I played it on my Grandmothers old windup phonograph that had a needle that looked like a nail. It was Little Richard’s Long Tall Sally not blues but it got me going. Chuck Berry was an influence as well as BB King. I also remember Savoy Brown and Foghat plus the Rolling Stones too. Lately I am hooked on Joe Bonamassa and have seen him live 4 times. Warren, Derek, Duane, Dickie, SRV, Albert King, Bernard Allison, Robert Cray and many more have gotten my attention and keep me interested. I really enjoy your lessons and have and continue learning more Blues and Slide Guitar.
    Thanks so much

  9. I cannot remember the first blues album but the first times I was listening to blues. I was 8-9, I’m know 61. My grandmother used to catch 2 American radio station transmiting from west Europe. They played some blues tune. It was a very rural and primitive one and I was hooked by the repetitive and hypnotic sound of this music. At this time I was unable to understand even one word of english. I did not know it was blues. It’s only 2 or 3 decades after that I learned what is the blues. Today when thinking about it I can still feel this hypnotic feeling. To me Portugese Fado,
    classical french songs and blues are very closely related, each one in it’s own style, since the key word for the three is feeling.

    I’m know retired and spent my free time to try to learn how to play the blues.

    Sorry for my deficient english I’m self taught.

  10. Thanks for all the great comments!

    There are some great stories here. I think it’s great that everyone can remember that specific moment when they heard the blues. Some people don’t have that.

    I think blues lovers will always be very passionate about their music, and to me it seems these memories are just as important as the music itself.

    Thanks.

  11. Since I am only 30 years old, I don’t have quite the storied history of you guys, but I have clear memories of my spine tingling in the late 90’s when first listening to Claptons Blues compilation. I must have listened to “have you ever loved a woman” live about 200 times that summer. I believe it is he and Duane going back and forth with each other for about 4 minutes. From there, I started listening to more Clapton, SRV, BB, and some of my generations geniouses like Mato Nanji from Indigenous, kenny Wayne shepherd and most recently derek trucks. I love how most blues greats don’t sell millions of albums, but everyone respects them and they never stop cranking out quality music if only for their own love of the blues.

  12. I am a 40 year old and have been listening to many styles of music my entire life. I was listening to blues music from the Stones, Santana, Clapton, Hendrix, Zeppelin, Allmans (to name just a few) before I realized it was blues. It was more rock to me but through the years, Ive realized where the roots of the rock songs got their influence and inspiration. Its from legendary blues artists like Sonny Boy Williamson, Albert King, BB King, Albert Collins, Howling Wolf, and dont forget Robert Johnson. Unfortunately I am a late-bloomer and didnt get my first “true” blues record until the early 90s. It was John Lee Hooker’s “The Healer”! That is one powerful record and features several legendary blues artist duets John gets to play with such as: Carlos Santana, Bonnie Raitt, George Thorogood, Robert Cray, Canned Heat, Los Lobos, and the legendary blues harmonica of Charlie Musselwhite! If you come across this recording, I suggest you pick it up as it had quite an effect on me. My blues cd library has been expanding ever since, ha!

  13. Hooker’s Healer album is one of my favorites. Good stuff. I kied it so much I went out and bought a second CD for my girlfriend to have. I insisted she have it.

  14. I have been listening to the blues for only a few years now. Can someone provide a good list of Blues CD’s they would recommend. Plus, if you know of any play alone Blues CD’s that would be great also.

    John, the sample of the new Blues DVD look great!! You are amazing as usual. I just started the Blues I DVD and I learned more in 1 hour then I have learned in a years worth of lessons.

  15. Man, Stevie Ray could play. What a loss for blues guitar when he died. His fingers and arms were unusually long which seems perfect for guitar but he had that something special inside that allowed him to feel the music. He kept his eyes closed alot while playing which reminds me of Jimi Hendrix. Mix natural born talent and the physical tools, years of practice and you get a legend!

  16. In 1967 I purchased BB King “Live at the Regal” and Paul Butterfield Blues Band “East West.” Prior to that it was straight AM radio stuff–but that all changed
    following those purchases. I have seen pictures of Butterfield and Bloomfield
    “hanging out” and knocking down a few beers in what appears to be Peppers
    Lounge while Jr. Wells is gigging with Buddy Guy. Those guys were not just
    getting down the licks but they were dealing with the southside of Chicago.

    To me the quintisental blues album, primer and starting point for exposure to theBlues is “Live at the Regal.” It is way down in the alley as BB said.

    To round yourself out you have to visit the other two Kings, perhaps “Born Under a Bad Sign and maybe Freddie’s “Just Pickin.'” Throw in the Muddy Box Set and maybe James Cotton’s first or second album and you have yourself the beginning of a blues education.

    Ten years later you’ll be looking for more stuff to fighure out.

  17. I couldn’t believe just how right you were when you said that every blues fan has that single moment when they feel they’ve discovered something so incredible. I’m young (28) and haven’t had all the opportunities some of the others here have had, so my blues “awakening” came only about two and a half years ago. It happened while playing Guitar Hero. I tried playing Texas Flood (and failed miserably more times than any other song, I might add), but I loved the song. I kept failing it, but the more I listened to it, the more I found myself with it stuck playing on the jukebox in my head.

    It wasn’t until I got my hands on a copy of SRV’s first album that my love for the blues really set in. From there, I went on to discover some of the best the blues has to offer: B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Albert King, Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters. The best part of it all was that as I my discovery continued, I came to a point in my life that the music became cathartic for me and helped me get through it.

    I’m a little embarrassed that it didn’t happen before then and that I discovered the blues through a video game, and I regret that I was never able to watch the magic of Stevie Ray on stage. Texas Flood will always have a high spot on my list of favorite songs ever, and I wouldn’t trade the feeling I get from that music for anything in this world.

  18. memphis swamp jam, i picked it up just before i left for college in 1969. it is a compilation album with bukkha white, fred mcdowell,furry lewis and others.i bought it for $2.37 at majors record store in staten island along with an 88 cent lightning hopkins record, yes it was vinyl.
    thats what got me started

  19. The first Blues Album I had came from my mother back in the early 50’s.
    It was a 78 of Fats Domino I fell in love with “BlueBerry Hill” and It’s been all blues all the time since.

    • That’s a fun tune to play on piano. Pretty easy to get the basics to it and sounds really good. Thanks for the comment.

  20. Led Zeppelin I was the first really great blues/rock album that I really got into. A lot of people cite Zeppelin as one of the first metal bands, but I disagree. They were a heavy blues band at heart, it was the way they demolished the blues that would influence metal bands to come.

    If we’re talking true blues, then Live at the Regal would be it.

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