The 2010 decade was to feature the emergence of a new more energetic and upbeat style of contemporary blues. The blues highway expanded lanes with new accelerated on ramps for blues rock, roots blues, gospel, and both soul and R&B artists. But all of these artists, no matter the sub genre of the blues that they love, had the ultimate respect and admiration for one man…the King of the Blues…. B.B. King.

B.B. King released no studio albums after the 2008 One Kind Favor but he continued to tour relentlessly up until the time of his death on May 14, 2015 at the age of 89. From his humble birth on a cotton plantation in Mississippi, B.B. King would rise to the very heights of blues stardom. With his beloved guitar Lucille in his hands, he enchanted audiences first on the “Chitlin’ circuit” in the deeply segregated southern United States in the 1950’s and then over the next sixty years he toured the world playing a brand of the blues that still has no equal. Affable and always willing to share his stage (even with a child prodigy by the name of Joe Bonamassa), B.B. King is still, to this day, the most popular and recognized name in the history of the blues. B.B.’s live version of How Blue Can You Get recorded at the Cook County Jail in 1971 is among my favorite B.B. King recordings.

Other giants of the blues also passed away during the 2010 decade. One of them was a lady who grew up in South Central Los Angeles by the name of Etta James. She recorded her first song in 1954 at the age of 15, is said to have dated B.B. King at 16, and in early 1955 shared a stage in Memphis with an up and coming artist by the name of Elvis Presley. In 1960, Etta released her first album, At Last. The title cut, written and performed originally by Glen Miller, is considered by music critics to be her signature song. However, her rendition of I’d Rather Go Blind on the 1968 album Tell Mama is the defining song of her career in my opinion. For over sixty years, she belted out blues, R&B, soul, jazz, and even a little doo-wop. In November of 2011, she released her last album, The Dreamer. Her voice had grown husky with age but the recording contains some fabulous songs including a stellar version of Otis Reddings’ Cigarettes and Coffee. Etta passed into blues history on January 20, 2012 at the age of 73.

Some other giants of the blues who passed on during the 2010’s:

Though rightfully acknowledged as the father of Rock ‘n’ Roll by John Lennon, Chuck Berry started out as a bluesman. In 1955, the legendary Muddy Waters introduced him to Leonard Chess of Chess Records, the premier blues label in the United States. From his early recordings with Chess Records like the 1957 Wee Wee Hours and on through his career, Chuck continued to perform blues numbers during his shows and on his albums. He died at the age of 90 on March 18, 2017.

Magic Slim first started recording in 1977 and issued a final career defining album Bad Boy in 2012 just before passing away the following year at the age of 75. Groomed as a young man to be a piano player, a cotton gin accident in his native Mississippi changed the course of his musical life. Losing a pinky finger, Magic switched to guitar and developed a driving rhythm style of the blues that can be typified on the song I’m a Bluesman. In his band was another up and coming guitar player and singer John Primer who would emerge as a star of the blues in the 2010’s.

Gary Moore, an Irishman, is considered by many to be one of the greatest blues rockers of all time. After his early days with the rock band Thin Lizzy, Gary migrated to the blues full time by the early nineties. His live performance of Parisienne Walkway in 1993 is one of my favorite live recordings of all time. Gary died of a heart attack on February 6, 2011 at the age of 58.

In early 1970, I remember catching the bus with friends and then the ferry in New Orleans to attend my first live concert at a place called The Warehouse. I had already worn out my copy of Second Winter and wanted to hear Johnny Winter perform Johnny B. Goode and Highway 61 Revisited. He did not disappoint and the thing I remember most is that he kept talking about his love for the blues during the show!! (And an added bonus was the appearance of B.B. King as Johnny’s opening act.) To say that Johnny Winter had a profound impact on my musical life and tastes going forward from that point would be an understatement! From his roots in the Golden Triangle of eastern Texas, Johnny would amaze audiences with his guitar finesse and focus on the blues during a recording career that spanned from 1969 until his death in 2014 at the age of 70. Though idolized by rock audiences, Johnny was first and foremost a blues man. His “Roots” recording in 2011 is one of my favorite albums of the decade.

Alvin Lee helped to define the Blues Rock genre as a member of Ten Years After in the late 1960’s. In the 1970’s and 1980’s, his style of “rockin’ blues” won him audiences across the world. And on the recording I Hear You Rockin’ (US release 1994), Alvin recorded one the greatest blues rock ballads of all time, Bluest Blues. Alvin died from unexpected complications from a routine surgery on March 6, 2013 at the age of 68.

Aretha Franklin was at a crossroads in the mid 1960’s. Management kept trying to turn her into a classy ballroom singer. A trip to Muscle Shoals Alabama and the FAME studios in 1967 transformed her career with the song I Never Loved A Man (Like I Love You) and the Queen of Soul would reign until her death on August 16, 2018 at the age of 76. Though many of you reading this may not associate soul music with the blues, it is a recognized sub-genre of the Blues Music Awards ceremonies held each year in Memphis……good enough for me!

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This is my second article on the Contemporary Blues in the 2010 decade. You can find the link to the first one here. I hope to publish more as the weeks go by in 2024.

#blues #bluesmusic #bluesrock #bluesnews #bluesreviews #contemporaryblues #soulmusic

Ben Vee started out spinning songs on terrestrial radio and at nightclubs back in the 1970’s in his home state of Louisiana. After a career in the construction business, he returned to DJing in 2011. He now hosts two shows each week on http://www.bluesmusicfan.com and writes about the blues at http://www.benveeblues.com from his home in Connecticut. He also has a personal 24 hour stream devoted to the Roadhouse Blues… WRHB as well as a Youtube channel.