Paul Butterfield Blues Band > Work Song

Composed by Nat Adderley

I thought it would be fitting to end White Blues Week with the group most responsible for introducing Chicago styled blues to the rock audience in the early 60s. I was never a huge Butterfield Band fan, but I loved everything they stood for and a lot of their solo accomplishments (including Butter’s). This cover was the first big hit for the Cannonball Adderley’s group, and is still one of the PBBB’s most popular iTunes tracks.

White Blues #6 
Covers #12 

Bob Dylan > Someday Baby

The Allman Brothers Band introduced this song to the white rock audience, but the last person I expected to do a cover was Bob Dylan. And I expected to like it even less. But here it is, one of two blues covers on the only Dylan album I’ve liked for since 1975. Goes to show you there can be a surprise every day.

Composer credits on the blues are notoriously unreliable —it’s a tradition of oral history after all— but I’ve variably seen it listed as Sleepy John Estes, Mississippi Fred McDowell, McKinley Morganfield/Muddy Waters, even Dylan took credit.

Legends of Rock #4
White Blues #5 
Covers #11 

Canned Heat > On the Road Again

Alan Wilson had a voice from the sky, a true blues wail. He and Bob Hite led Canned Heat to the heights of international pop-dom with three classic tracks (On the Road Again, Goin’ Up the Country, Let’s Work Together) from the unlikely source of some rare blues. I saw them at the Fillmore East in February 1969, before Wilson’s untimely death, and it was my first taste of the real, authentic, blues. Really.

White Blues #2

The Electric Flag > Killing Floor

Composed by Chester Burnett aka Howlin’ Wolf

You’ll notice I filed this group as a “Legend of Rock.” They were.

It took me years to realize that Killing Floor was one of the Wolf’s songs. (It was probably the anti-Vietnam War Lyndon Johnson snippet at the beginning re-casting the title sentiment that threw me off.) The track hits the groove from the first downbeat and never lets it go. No one cares that Nick Gravenites is a white guy, Mike Bloomfield plays his guitar to prove his reputation, and Buddy Miles is so solid you don’t wonder why Jimi Hendrix wanted to play with him so badly.

Legends of the Guitar #4 
Legends of Rock #3
White Blues #4

Cream > Crossroads

Cream’s reinvention of Robert Johnson’s Crossroads deserves its place in our hearts and our heads.

The irony of the late 60s blues revival was the phenomenon of English rock bands actually introducing young Americans to the American blues. Young Britons discovered the legendary Robert Johnson through an LP reissue and gathered up guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton in the obsession. He, in turn, brought it to his pre-supergroup Cream, who included it on their mega album Wheels of Fire.

Legends of the Guitar #3 
Legends of Rock #2
White Blues #3
Composed by Robert Johnson

Stevie Ray Vaughan > A Flood Down in Texas

To kick off White Blues Week, I figured we ought to start with the most recent (and tragic) hope, Stevie Ray Vaughan. During the time I was dismissive of any non-black bluesman (until maybe 20 years ago) I had the chance to work with Stevie and didn’t appreciate it. My great loss.

Legends of the Guitar #2 
Legends of the Blues #2 
White Blues #1