New Blues Musicians

[mcmars]

There are so many blues musicians that never really get onto the radar of most people as blues is not so "mainstream" compared to rock, country, pop and other popular styles of music.

So maybe the way to ask the question on where to find new "blues musicians" is how to find the great blues musicians who are out there, but not easy to find? Traditionally, so many of the incredible blues greats that we know and love were just people that happened to get "discovered" later in life and recorded. We are now lucky that Lomax or somebody happened to find them and record them. Many great players never got recorded and they are lost to time.

I see Kingfish has been mentioned here by many and for good reason. I saw him at Telluride Blues and Brews about 5 years ago when he was unknown and got brought out to the festival in conjunction with the MusicMakers Foundation that brings in old and new blues artists every year for the smaller stage. I have seen a lot of music acts in my life from Jimi Hendricks to Derick Trucks when he was just a young underaged kid playing at a small bar in Telluride, and "kingfish" blew me away like no other performer. It was like he was an ancient blues soul incarnated into a young kid's body.

So I suggest if you want to find "new" blues artists, be open to not only the new young artists, but also the older ones that have never been discovered yet. Check out the MusicMakers Foundation as they actively seek out both old and new blues artists: https://musicmaker.org/

I find a lot of great blues artists on youtube, at folk and blues festivals and by interacting with other musicians in campgrounds of various festivals and at the blues specific instructional workshops that are held every year around the country.

Mary Flower has a great blues workshop, "Blues in the Gorge" in the fall in Oregon I have enjoyed. I used to go every year to the Augusta Heritage Blues Week workshop in Elkins WVA and there will be some amazing blues instructors and students. And the big one in Washington, Port Townsend Acoustic Blues Workshop where Jontavious Willis is the Artistic Director.

If you are close and can get to the Telluride Blues Festival, know they have the smaller stage which typically features many lessor known acoustic artists as well as the big stage that will have the Taj and Keb Mo type artists. I find I spend more time at the smaller stage.

[12fretter]

Saw this guy on YouTube.don't know anything about him but dig his style.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea0mA1GbeF0

[yaharadelta]

Terry Robb, this guy's not new, been around a long time, but new to me. Ran across him sometime in the last year or so. He has produced albums for John Fahey, and is well known in the the PNW. Great player!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq8CKDod-nA

[Kyle215]

Another recommendation for Jontavious Willis here… he is a good follow on Facebook, too. He did a whole series of Robert Johnson covers a while back that were great. Apparently he only records original music though, so the covers were just one-offs on his FB page. I think he was calling it the Robert Johnson Challenge, a few other cats were in on it too.

Thanks to the people who recommended Jerron Paxton, enjoyed his stuff.

[Banter Shack]

Thanks a lot for all your replies, folks. I've narrowed my list down to 10, but I'm already feeling like I should be adding more.

https://bantershack.com/10-colossal-...ze-your-radar/