Top ten acoustic blues tunes

[Bill Godwin]

Pulling my acoustic out of the closet I'm wondering:

What would you list as "standard" top ten (or twenty) acoustic blues
tunes?

TIA

Bill

[Washed Marge]

Honestly? I can't come up with a single one.

[Carl]

Unless you mean the strict 12-bar format blues, I can list a few for you.

I would put "Cocaine" near the top of any list (that's the Rev Gary
Davis/Dave Van Ronk version, also covered by Jackson Browne on one of his
albums, not the Clapton thing).

Others out of the literal 12 bar format, "San Francisco Bay Blues", "Nobody
Knows You When You're Down and Out", "House of the Rising Sun", "Deep River
Blues" (Doc Watson), "Old Joe's Barroom" for a minor blues (sometimes called
"St. James Infirmary").

I mean, maybe I'm dating myself and you're looking for something more
contemporary, but these are the first things that come to mind for me.

[Allen Barker]

I'd put some Robert Johnson on the list. Cross Road
Blues, for example.

[Carl]

Good choice, but done Johnson's way of course, not Cream's. How about Dust
My Broom and then there's Love in Vain (covered and made into a hit by The
Stones)?

[Sylvain Robitaille]

Bill Godwin wrote:

> What would you list as "standard" top ten (or twenty) acoustic blues
> tunes?

I know several Robert Johnson tunes have already been mentioned, but
Sweet Home Chicago and Come On In My Kitchen absolutely have to be
mentioned on any list of acoustic blues standards.

Midnight Special ?
Kansas City ?
C.C. Rider ?

Well, that isn't ten or twenty, but it's certainly a top 5 that I
believe are standards, that I was able to come up with ...

--
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Sylvain Robitaille s...@encs.concordia.ca

Systems analyst / AITS Concordia University
Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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[Cyberserf]

Yup....Stones in my Passway, Hellhound on my Trail, Malted Milk, Stop
Breakin' Down Blues, Ramblin' on my mind, Walking Blues...RJ had the
shit...Sweet Little Angel, Paying the Cost to be the Boss, Let the
Good Times Roll, Chains and Things from Blues Boy and Personal
Manager, C.O.D. and Breakin' Up Somebody's Home from that other King
guy Albert...all strike me as seminal. Mustang Sally & GTO, I Can't
quit you Baby and House Rent Blues from Mr. J.L.Hooker hit me hard and
Madison Blues, The Sky is Crying, Rollin and Tumblin...did I mention
Dust my Broom? and, It hurt Me Too ,from Elmore James kick ass even
today...the problem with the list is that it spans a century...blues
from RJ to Stevie Ray, from Buddy Guy to Cream...from the beginning to
today. When I think of only the more contemporary bands I've enjoyed
over he years...Matt Minglewood, The Powder Blues Band, Colin James,
Jeff Healey, Clapton, Hendrix, Lennon...Zappa?....Wow...Top
ten...NoCanDo.

More realistically....Name me the top ten "Alternative" tunes...surely
the Psychedelic Furs are #3?

Regards, C[tongue in cheek]S

[Sylvain Robitaille]

On Wed, 6 Jan 2010 11:24:53 -0800 (PST), Cyberserf wrote:

(list of great songs from great artists ...)

> ... the problem with the list is that it spans a century ... from the
> beginning to today.

Interesting timing ... I just rewatched Lightning in a Bottle last
night. What a show!

> ... When I think of only the more contemporary bands I've enjoyed
> over he years ... Wow ... Top ten ... NoCanDo.

But the OP wanted standards, and acoustic blues. Only a small number of
your list fit both, and maybe a few more could adapt well to acoustic,
even if they originally weren't. If the request had been as simple as
name your top ten favourite blues tunes, I, like you, would likely be
able to narrow it down to maybe a top 100, in no particular order! ;-)