Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way

This is a performance Lenny Kravitz and his band at the 2007 Live Earth concert. They perform the classic song "Are You Gonna Go My Way", a song by Kravitz released in 1993 as a single. It's a great straight forward rock 'n' roll song driven by an awesome riff that just drives the song. This shows that Kravitz is a true rock artist who knows his stuff and can write great rock 'n' roll songs. The song has become hugely successful and popular, and has been covered by several artists, such as; Metallica, Tom Jones and Robbie Williams to name a few.
It's a great performance from Live Earth, they really give all they have, and deliver a solid performance of a kick-ass song.
The single also spawned one of the best performance music videos ever. I'm not a big fan of that kind of music videos, but this is just done so well, I have to salute it. It basically takes place in a vertical room with lights in the sealing blinking in various patterns through out the performance. Lenny plays a Gibson Flying V and looks cool, and so does the rest of the band. That's the thing about this music video, they all look cool. There's also some great shots of fans jumping around going wild. It's a great video, and by many considered a land mark of 90's music videos. The music video is embeded beneath.

Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way
Uploaded by hushhush112. - See the latest featured music videos.

Rory Gallagher - All Around Man

This is a magnificent performance from blues extraordinaire Rory Gallagher, it's from the concert at BBC's Grey Whistle on March 2nd 1976 which was also the date of Rory's birthday.
The song was originally performed by Bo Carter, but Rory's version is just smokin', no doubts one of Rory's best performances ever, though I don't think there is such a thing as Rory's best performance. Rory was an artist who gave 100 % on stage, and in that sense you could easily say that all Rory's performances were his best.
I really love this song and performance. Rory really shows the extent of his talent, by playing some of the best bottle neck slide I've heard, period! It's amazing, it's fast, but still keeping feel, and being right on spot in terms of intonation and execution of the playing. Not only do we get Rory's guitar playing, but Rory also plays a really good solo on the blues harp. He uses a harmonica microphone, and gets that perfectly good blues sound. He also shouts into that mike on the musical breaks of the solo. He also does something similar with his slide playing, where he sings the part, as he's playing it, true feeling, true blues!
We also get a really good piano and Hammond Organ solo from Lou Martin who also joins in as Rory is soloing on the blues harp. They basically riff off each other, and Lou tries to play the lines Rory just played, it's amazing, a true jam between two good musicians.
This is just an amazing performance from Gallagher, definitely one of his best, though all his performances pretty much fit that mark.

Enjoy ; )

Repost: B.B. King - How Blue Can You Get

This is the same case as yesterday's post, where I posted the clip, and then it got taken down by youtube. The original post featured a video, where BB played with Paul Shaffer and The CBS Orchestra which made it an all around awesome performance.
This new video is from the rock DVD producers and distributors Eagle Rock. It's a DVD of several blues and rock 'n' roll artists coming together for a great performance. Click here for more info on the DVD.
This is a good performance of this song too, but I really fell in love with the one from The Late Show. I just really loved the big set-up, with the horn section, and the big orchestra, I really though it sounded awesome. But now it's been taken down.
This performance is very good as well, but a completely different set-up. There's no set-up, and in a way you could say that in that way you really get to see BB's raw talent which is true. But I also really think that BB's talent shines through no matter what set-up he's in. This is a good performance, but not as good as the one in the original post. (Click here to read the old post, there's no video, hence it's been removed, but still go check it out)

Repost: Stevie Ray Vaughan - Love Struck Baby

 I posted a version of this song before. It was the version where Stevie plays the song live with Colin James. That video has been taken down from youtube, so I thought I'd post another version of the song. (click here for previous posted entry)
This version is from 1987 in New Orleans. It's a great version of the song. It's an extended version in terms of musical improvisation. There's a piano solo by Reese Wynans, and then after that Stevie goes into a guitar solo. He pretty much does the standard version of the solo, but adds a lot of new things to it. Of course he shows off and puts the guitar behind his head and keeps playing. And after that he just extends the solo even more.
It's one of those performances where Stevie was just feeling it, and started playing new stuff on the spot. I love both versions of this, but since the old version has been taken down from youtube, I'd say this is at least as good. Though you can't really judge performances like that.

U2 & B.B. King - When Love Comes to Town

This is a collaboration between the band U2 and B.B. King. The song was released in 1988 U2's album "Rattle and Hum", and it was released as the album's third single in 1989.
The song has been played live many times, all of them featuring B.B. King and his band. On the "Lovetown Tour" in 1989 the song was played as an encore on almost all nights of the tour. It was played at 46 out of the 47 shows, and was the main encore for the tour. This clip is also from the Lovetown Tour.
It's a great song with a nice and up beat rhythm. The Edge sticks to playing the rhythm parts on the song, and B.B. plays all the lead parts. The singing is shared between Bono and B.B., but it's B.B. rocking the house and getting the crowd in a good mood. He does a spoken word in the song, and really gets the audience going.
This version is on a very grand scale. B.B. was touring with a big band, featuring both choir girls and a horn section. It all helps build up the scale of the song and the performance, but it's still B.B. at the centre, giving the performance it's heart.
This is so uplifting, you can't be in a bad mood after listening to this.

Enjoy ; )

Muse - Feeling Good

This is a live performance by British band Muse. They perform their version of the classic song "Feeling Good". It's a song that has been recorded by a huge number of artists, some of them good, some of them bad. Among the bad are The Pussycat Dolls and Michael Bublé, the Pussycats is obvious, and I'm not a big fan of Bublé and his, hmm... too good image, his version is a bit karaoke like in my opinion.
The two best versions, in my opinion, is Nina Simone's version, and this one by Muse. When I first heard it, I wasn't a huge fan of their version, but I gotta say, it's really grown on me, to a point where I really like it. The Nina version is a soul and jazz thing, sung with a lot of emotion. Now the Muse version still has that jazzy soul influence, but fuses it with a rock influence. It makes it a dark and new version of the song, and very interesting. I think Muse do a really good job with this, and I really like their version.
Muse released this as a single as well, and also did a music-video for the song. It's a good video, with stunning visuals, sort of underlining the new interoperated meaning of the song. It's good, and definitely worth checking out, if you like this version of the song. Video for the song left embeded beneath in case you wanna check it out. Also below is Nina's version of the song.

Muse - Feeling Good
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Steve Vai - For the Love of God

This is a guitar instrumental piece by guitar legend Steve Vai. The song was originally recorded and released in 1990 on Steve Vai's album "Passion and Warfare".
It's a long instrumental featuring a wide variety of different guitar techniques, one more impressive than the other. He uses the whammy-bar on the song a lot, he uses pinch harmonics, natural harmonics, two finger tapping and it all adds up to something amazing and out of this world.
Vai himself has stated that when he's making music he likes to try and enter different states of consciousness. So there is a, hmm... religious or spiritual overtone at work here, and you can hear that emotion channelled through Vai's playing.
That is what I love about Vai's playing, it's ultra-technical and out of this world difficult. But through his hands it's still played with emotion. There are very few players who can be speed demons and still emote, and for that Vai, I personally salute you.
A high point of this performance, in my opinion, is when he towards the end of his performance makes the guitar sound like dolphin screams. I mean who else could do that but him? This is an all over awesome performance.

Enjoy ; )

The Doors - Wild Child

This is a video from the classic late 60's band The Doors. It's a video consisting of footage of some native-American kids spliced together with studio footage of The Doors recording the song "Wild Child". I don't know if it was a fan made video or an official video.
The song Wild Child is built up quite simple, with one riff pretty much driving the song, and then changing when the song breaks into the chorus. The riff is mainly a guitar riff played by Robby Krieger, but a Hammond B3 organ is also added, to give the song that trippy 60's feel. Robby also plays a psychedelic bottle neck slide that just fits the song perfectly.
The song was released as a single in December of 1968, but it was a B-side to the song "Touch Me".
Below is a little clip from the A-side to the single.

Audio sample
file info · help

It's a really good stoner song, with that delightful 60's psychedelic sound. A great video, and a really good song.


Enjoy ; )

Guns N' Roses - Mr. Brownstone

This is a performance by hard rock 80's band Guns N' Roses, the good line-up with Slash still playing the lead parts. The song appears on the legendary 1987 album "Appetite for Destruction".
The song was written by Izzy Stradlin and Slash, they were complaining about being heroin addicts, and started writing down lyrics on the back of a grocery bag. They brought the lyrics to Axl, and they decided to record the song. The lyrics are clearly about addiction and heroin, as Brownstone is slang for heroin, much the way Mary Jane means Marijuana.
"Mr. Brownstone" was the first UK single released by the just signed band. It was released as a double A-side along the song "It's So Easy".
The song explores what in the rock world is known as "The Bo-Diddley beat". It was a beat first used by guitarist Bo-Diddley, therefore it is named after him. It has been used by many bands though times, and was especially popularized in the 60's by bands like The Rolling Stones etc. This gives the song that Rolling Stones kind of feel. GNR are influenced heavily by 60's bands and especially The Rolling Stones, and in a song like this you can really hear it.
It's a great song with a nice long guitar introduction leading into the riff, with a sweet solo, and sweet rhythm thanks to Bo-Diddley and Matt Sorum. A great performance, of a great song.

Enjoy ; )

Motörhead - Ace of Spades (Acoustic) (100th post)

This is a recently recorded acoustic version of the Motörhead song "Ace of Spades", they recorded it for a European beer commercial, and took the tempo down to a slow blues progression. Really shows the relation between genres, when you can just slow something down and add an acoustic guitar instead of an electric, and boom heavy metal turned into slow acoustic blues.
The top box is the new single in its full length, and the two videos are the commercial in which the song is featured, and a behind the scenes following Motörhead as they recorded the song.
I really like this song, it really shows that Lemmy has a broad style, and can play many different types of music. This is just pure acoustic blues, and I love it. It both features acoustic guitars playing the slow main rhythm part, a blues harp solo by Lemmy and a Dobro solo by Phil Campbell. It's a great song, and it really shows that Motörhead is much more than a metal band.

Electric Light Orchestra - Mr. Blue Sky

This is a performance from 70's rock band "Electric Light Orchestra". It's one of their most famous songs, and it's a mix of pop and 70's rock with a lot of experimentation going on. It features a nice and up-beat melody that gives the tune a happy feeling. It also features a nice little happy guitar solo from Jeff Lynne, and an experimental part of vocoder singing. It's a nice up-beat song that's been featured in many different kinds of medium.

Enjoy ; )

Rory Gallagher - Walk on Hot Coals

This is a 1974 performance from blues and rock guitarist Rory Gallagher. The footage is from the documentary/concert film "Irish Tour '74". It's a legendary film following Gallagher as he tours through Ireland. The director originally intended the footage to be used on a television special, but decided to release it as a theatrical feature.
The film is famous for featuring a performance from Gallagher in Belfast. Belfast was a rocky place at this time, with brawls etc. being very common, also at rock shows. This meant that most bands refused to play in Belfast. But not Gallagher. As part of his tour he stopped in Belfast, and played one of the best live shows of his career, and there was no violence at the concert, just mesmerized teens.
The song "Walking on Hot Coals" is a Rory Gallagher original. It's an instrumental song featuring a lot of guitar playing on Gallagher's part, but also a piano solo by Lou Martin. On the song Gallagher also uses pinch harmonics on the song. He was one of the first guitarists to incorporate this technique into his style. A technique he also used on the song "Off The Handle" previously posted on this blog (click here). This is just a great performance.

Enjoy ; )

Kansas - Carry On Wayward Son

This is a smoking performance from 70's progressive rock band "Kansas". They play their 1976 song "Carry On Wayward Son". The song was released in two versions a 5:26 album-version and a radio-edit cut down to 3:36. This live version is 6:43 with an extended ending of the song, and performed with a string section.
It's a great song, and the riffs driving the song are amazing. You can tell that the guys in the band are getting old, but they still play with the same energy and as good as when they were young. They all pretty much have white hair, and one of them even wears an eye-patch, now that's bad ass!!
It's a great performance, the singing is fantastic, the playing is fantastic and their energy is amazing.

A great performance, enjoy ; )

Ted Nugent - Cat Scratch Fever

This is a recent performance of the classic hard rock 70's song "Cat Scratch Fever" by Ted Nugent, of the album with the same title. The song is known for its simple three tone blues scale riff harmonized in parallel fourths.It's traditional rock 'n' roll, straight forward, one riff, attitude and a simple but rockin' guitar solo by Ted Nugent himself.
In 2009 the song was named the 32nd best hard rock song of all time by the VH1 television network.
It's a great ballsy performance, with Ted functioning at full throttle and energy level. Truly a great song, true rock 'n' roll.

Enjoy ; )

Lynrd Skynrd - Free Bird

This is a song by southern rock band Lynrd Skynrd. Alongside "Sweet Home Alabama" it's one of their most famous songs. The song is known for its build-up, it starts out very slow with a slide guitar intro by Gary Rossington and then starts of with a slow nice melody, as the singing begins. Towards the middle of the song there's a musical break, and the song starts picking up speed, it accelerates. It's a grand instrumental finish, and it's by far one of the longest songs in recording history. The album-version is about 9 minutes, but some live version reach a length of about 14 minutes, now that's improv guitar soloing!
It's a great and legendary song. Lynrd Skynrd would often use it to close their live sets, and it has become known as the ultimate closer. For a period at the top of the song's popularity, fans would scream Freebird (it's not really clear how people spell the title), even if it wasn't Lynrd Skynrd performing it.
It's a legendary 70's songs, and one of a kind. There aren't a lot of songs that in live versions run into 14 minutes. This live version is about 10 minutes. It's a great song, and a great performance.

Enjoy ; )

Stevie Ray Vaughan - I'm Leaving You (Commit a Crime)

This is a performance by blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. He performs the song "I'm Leaving You (Commit a Crime). A performance of this is featured on the classic live album "Live Alive" bye Stevie Ray Vaughan. It's a live record that boasts a lot of different types of material. Vaughan draws in all of his influences, performing rather contemporary tracks such as "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" by Hendrix and "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder, but also includes a lot of the old school blues feel.
This is one of those old school songs. The performance is simple, pretty much repeating the same little riff over the entire progression, and adding pauses where Stevie just gets to sing. It's really a performance that shows how good a singer Stevie truly is. He does a small guitar solo, but nothing fancy or flashy, and then ends it with a simple take on a turn around lick. It's just classic old school blues. This performance is inspired bye Howlin' Wolf, and Stevie definitely does him justice. It's just a great performance.

Enjoy ; )

Charlie Daniels Band - The Devil Went Down To Georgia

This song may be considered to be country, and I'm not really sure where to put it. In my book it's a little fast to be country, but then again not all country sounds like Dolly Parton, some of it is fast and something you can dance to.
The song however has been embraced by the rock community, and the lyrics share a lot of similar things to blues music. The lyrics are about a kid who is challenged by the devil to a fiddle battle against the devil. If he wins he'll get a solid gold violin and if he loses the devil gets his soul. The devil also often appears in blues lyrics.
The song has been embraced by the rock world, and was featured in an updated version in the video game "Guitar Here III: Legends of Rock".
It's a great song and a delightfully energetic performance from the band and Charlie Daniels himself. He plays the fiddle so hard he breaks several hairs in his bow, and needs to switch bow towards the end of the song. That's cool. It's just a great performance.




The band Primus also did a cover of the song. They did a really nice clay-mation video for it, and I thought I'd include that. It's not as good as the original, but visually it tells the story very well.

Enjoy all of it ; )

OutKast - Idlewild Blue (Don'tchu Worry 'Bout Me)

(Haven't been able to find a version of this that is embeddable, so click here to go to the youtube page of the song)
This is the video for the song "Idlewild Blue (Don'tchu Worry 'Bout Me) by the rap duo OutKast. It's a song built around a classic 12-bar blues and it's sung by André 3000. It's nice to see newer artists incorporate blues elements into their songs, and especially when it's done well like this. It's basically the 12-bar in the front with a funky electric beat, and a little synthesizer towards the end.
The subject matter of the lyrics are also very bluesy, it's simple, but tells a story. It tells the story of a character trying to break free and gain independence, by leaving family, friends and the home town which is just classic blues. A lot of blues texts deal with trying to break free and leave, songs like "Dust My Broom", "Crossroads" and "I'm Leaving You (Commit a Crime)", to name a few.
The video displays André 3000 playing the song in an old house in the middle of nowhere that starts to overflow with water. There is debate of the meaning of the video. Some fans believe that the proximity of the video and the flowing water are visual allusions to the flooding that occurred as an aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Other fans see the water as an image of the blues, and that the blues can overflow and choke someone's life.
(Another artist who sung about hurricanes was Lightnin' Hopkins in the song "Hurricane Beulah" click here for that performance)

(A couple of pictures of André 3000, the first one is a capture from the video. Thought I'd at least give some sort of visual aid to this post!)
Any ways.

It's a great song, and it's nice to see talented people like OutKast doing a bit of blues.

Enjoy ; )

Ronnie Wood (ft. Slash) - Stay With Me

This is a performance by guitarist and singer Ronnie Wood. Wood is widely known as being one of the guitarists from Rolling Stones and he also gained fame touring with Rod Stawart and Jeff Beck. He has however besides all of those things always had a solo career. And his new album album "I Feel Like Playing" has just been released earlier this year.
Ronnie co-wrote the song "Stay With Me" with Rod Stewart for the band "The Faces". It became a pretty well known song, and has been featured on several compilation albums by "The Faces". The song has been covered a couple of times for instance by Ronnie James Dio's band Elf and Def Leppard. Through those covers the song kinda kept it's momentum through the 70's into the 80's.
In this performance Wood is also joined by famous guitarist Slash who, for the most part, stays in the background and plays rhythm on the song. He does have a small solo, but it isn't flashy or long. Slash knew this was Ronnie's performance, and stayed in the background, a character trade that only the best guitar players in the world posses.
It's a nice uplifting performance of a really good song.

Enjoy ; )

Train Kept A-Rollin' (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2009)

This is an all star performance from the 2009 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It was the ending act of the night, and it got all of the nominees, winners and presenters on stage for an all star jam on this classic song. The performance features: all members of Metallica (including their earlier bassist Jason Newsted), Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Joe Perry, Flea and Ronnie Wood. The inductees of the evening were Metallica and Jeff Beck. It's a great performance, and you can just tell that they're all having a lot of fun with it.
The only drag, and I'm nitpicking now, is the fact that Jimmy Page doesn't get to do a solo, I mean, he's bad ass, so why not give him a solo. I think I know why, Beck, Kirk Hammet and Joe Perry all get to do a solo. Beck and Hammet were part of the main inductees and Perry had done a very famous version of the song with his band Aerosmith. I think it was a call on the producers part in trying not to get into too long of a jam on the show. It's a minor drag, but it really would have been sweet to hear Page do a solo. Well too bad.

Still a great performance and fun performance, enjoy ; )

Led Zeppelin - How Many More Times

This is a very early performance from Led Zeppelin. It's from 1969 in Gladsaxe in Denmark, it's from a teen club, and luckily Danish television decided to record it and broadcast it. They had just published their first self-titled debut-album and this was probably part of a promotion tour.
This song is great because it shows different sides of the band within one song. It especially shows in Page's playing. He starts off showcasing his blues influence and his playing starts out kinda conventional. That doesn't last long however, as he slowly transfers into that rock style he helped from and define. Playing more aggressive. At one point he also brings out the famous string bow which he uses to harmonise with Plant's vocals. He also showcases his ability to go wild and stretch his playing all over the fretboard. This is just awesome playing showcasing all aspects of what makes Jimmy's playing (both lead and rhythm) amazing.
What a lucky audience. It's a very small audience hence this was before Zeppelin made it big and played stadiums. The small audience sits around the stage, and just observes and enjoys the music. How many people can say they've experienced a band like Zeppelin in such short distance, not many, those lucky bastards. Man I was born in the wrong decade.
This is a great performance, all of the band gives 100 % and really entertains. It's a small crowd, and the fact that they just put on a big performance for such a small audience shows just how awesome they are, how dedicated they are and how little their music was about fame. These are true musicians.
Oh and this video is just a two minute excerpt from the performance, I highly recommend watching the whole performance. (Follow the links beneath)
Part 1
Part 2

Enjoy ; )

The White Stripes - My Doorbell

This is the music video for the song "My Doorbell" by The White Stripes. A piano driven simple, well pop song, probably. White Stripes are always hard to place genre-wise, they draw a lot of contemporary influences while still going back to a lot of the old blues hounds as well. This makes for a unique sound that is simply The White Stripes, they can't be put into any specific category of music and that's what make them so good and unique.
The song was released in 2005 on the album "Get Behind Me Satan" and was the second single from the album.
The music video is shot in a vintage black and white style which really fits the song well. The song was also nominated for a Grammy for best pop performance. It's a good video for a song that'll surely bring you in a good mood.

Enjoy ; )

Lightnin' Hopkins - Mojo Hand

This is a solo performance from blues legend Lightnin' Hopkins. He performs his song Mojo Hand which I can only assume is about the magic that lies within his own hands. It's a very short clip, but absolutely worth it. It's fast and good wholesome acoustic self accompanied blues, simple as that.
You can really hear the influence Lightnin' has had on Stevie Ray Vaughan in this clip, I don't think Stevie would have come up with the idea of playing in a fast boogie-woogie style blues were it not for Lightnin', and that's awesome.

Enjoy ; )

Aerosmith - Back In The Saddle

This is a performance from classic hard rock band Aerosmith performing the rock 'n' roll song "Back In The Saddle". The song was written by Steven Tyler and Joe Perry aka The Toxic Twins. The song is from the band's 1976 album "Rocks" and was released as the third single from the album in 1977 and peaked at #38 on the Billboard charts.
The song was came about from a bass riff that Joe Perry came up with which gave the song the heavy bass sound. It is also one of the songs to feature Brad Whitford on lead guitar and Joe Perry on rhythm guitar, changing it up a bit.
Another characteristic of the song is the slow build up from the drum, to the bass kicking in, to it finally taking off into the song that is "Back In The Saddle". It's a great rock 'n' roll song, and a good performance.

Enjoy ; )

Bonnie Raitt - Love Me Like a Man

This is a 1995 performance from Bonnie Raitt, she plays the song "Love Me Like a Man", an acoustic traditional slow blues song with a traditional non slide blues solo from Raitt. This is just pure blues, and it absolutely proves that Bonnie deserves a rank among the best. This is just pure blues, it's acoustic and old school, gotta love that. She is only accompanied by a bass, and supplies both the singing and sweet guitar playing herself. Truly an amazing performance from a female blues singer with a delightfully raspy beautiful voice and guitar playing skills that match the skill of all the male blues players out there. Let's face it, there aren't a lot of female guitarists doing the blues thing which just furthermore makes Bonnie unique, there aren't no one who is doing what she's doing. She's amazing, gotta love Bonnie Raitt!

Enjoy ; )

Jimi Hendrix - All Along The Watchtower

This is a performance by Hendrix of the classic Dylan song "All Along The Watchtower". The song was originally recorded by Dylan, but the most famous version of the song has become the one done by Hendrix on his 1968 album "Electric Ladyland".
Hendrix was very influenced by Dylan, because he has said in interviews that Dylan was the one who gave him courage to start singing, so definitely thank you for that Dylan. Before Hendrix started playing solo and as leader for his own groups he toured playing the rhythm sections for various bands, including Little Richards band.
This is definitely the most famous rendition of the song, and Dylan (who generally isn't easy to impress) was overwhelmed by this version, and has said that Hendrix with his talent build upon the song and made it better. Dylan took notice of this version, and started doing Hendrix's version live and still does Hendrix's version to this day. So in a way the cover had become the original, or at least been embraced by the original artist.
Hendrix's version is amazing, and he could even do it live which is just even more amazing. This rocks, no doubt about it and it's one of my favourite Hendrix tracks.

Enjoy ; )

Eric Clapton - River Of Tears

This is a performance from Buenos Aires in 2001 by Clapton performing the song "River Of Tears". It's a pretty slow song with a lot of classic Clapton solos, played with a lot of emotion, in that Clapton style that seems to be his trademark. These are the kind of solos you'd expect from Clapton slow and kinda mellow while still played with the utmost perfection.
The song is very long, and also features a very beautiful part with the Hammond Organ. It's a very pretty song, and it perfectly displays all trades and sides of Clapton as an artist. His singing on this song is also that special brand of heartfelt and soulful singing where you can just feel the emotion in his voice, it's wonderful, just wonderful.
This is a great song, and probably not one of Clapton's most famous songs. It's a great performance by both Clapton and his wonderful band.

Enjoy ; )

The White Stripes - Ball and Biscuit

This is a performance by legendary alternative/blues/garage rock band The White Stripes. They could probably be attached to even more genres. They perform the song "Ball and Biscuit" from the album "Elephant" released in 2003. The band consists of Jack White on guitar and Meg White on drums. That's it, two members, and two instruments. The weird thing is that it's kind of a genius thing, because it really works. The song "Ball and Biscuit" is clearly a song deeply inspired by the very early acoustic blues the likes of Robert Johnson and Son House, but in an electric version. Jack has, by many, been said to have revitalised the guitar, and I kinda understand what they mean. He draws influence from multiple genres, and innovatively mixes them all into his own, mostly electric sound. In many ways doing the same thing as Clapton was doing when he recorded Crossroads.
This song is delightfully simple, simple rhythm and simple chord structure, with a slightly more difficult solo. It's reminiscent to the old Delta Blues because it's so simple, there's no bass, and Meg White's simple drumming is kinda like a foot tap of a self accompanied acoustic blues man. Jack also has to play the bass part, the rhythm part and the solos. This makes for a very interesting and innovative trade of playing, it makes him unique. This is a great song, and it pays tribute whilst still being new and innovative, well done Jack!

Enjoy ; )

Son House - Death Letter

This is an acoustic solo performance by legendary blues musician Son House. House isn't as widely known and famous as Robert Johnson who was also one of the old dogs when it comes to blues. Son House was born in 1902 and got to have a long life lasting to 1988 which meant he got to be around the greats and even influence some of them. Many people believe that House has influenced Johnson, in fact Johnson incorporated some of "Death Letter" into his own blues classic "Walking Blues". Son House, because of his old age, was also one of the people who helped spread the myth that Johnson had sold his soul to the devil in trade of his marvellous musical abilities.
The song Death Letter is about a man who learns about the death of the woman he loves in a letter. It is a very dark and depressive song, as the narrator views her dead body in the morgue and attends the funeral only to return home in a state of depression.
The song and Son House himself also gained some new notoriety in recent years due to Jack White being heavily influenced by him. The White Stripes has also covered Death Letter live on numerous occasions. It's a great song with a simple rhythm. One man and his guitar, that's what the blues is all about.

Enjoy ; )

Motörhead - Whorehouse Blues

This is a performance from the 2007 at Montreux, Motörhead performs their song "Whorehouse Blues" from the 2004 album "Inferno". The song is an acoustic blues song reflecting on 30 years on the road sometimes being and hanging out with the low end of society. Motörhead is a hard working band, and a band that lives for the road. They've had a career that's been going up and down, and sometimes it was even difficult to get gigs in some parts of Europe. So Motörhead certainly hasn't had it easy all the time.
On the song Lemmy plays harmonica in a traditional straight forward blues style, Mikkey Dee (the drummer) plays rhythm guitar whilst keeping a simple beat with a bass drum, and Phil Campbell plays along the rhythm and also does a solo. This is a very good acoustic blues track, of you like this kind of thing you'll enjoy it.

Enjoy ; )