Best Blues CD of 2012

Talking Guitar, by Paul Rishell

2012 was a good year for blues recordings. An unusual number our greatest blues performers released new CDs last year, including Lurrie Bell, Eddie C. Campbell, Shemekia Copeland, Robert Cray, Dr. John, Buddy Guy, Magic Slim and the Teardrops, Janiva Magness, the Mannish Boys, Bonnie Raitt, Otis Taylor, and Joe Louis Walker.

It was a year of surprises, too. Who would have expected, for example, a terrific new CD from guitarist Milton Hopkins and singer Jewel Brown, two veteran Houston R&B performers who made their recording debuts in the '50s? It's also good to hear again from soul music great Mighty Sam McClain, who has struggled to make his music available.

But more than anything else, this was the year in which acoustic blues made a well-deserved comeback. Billy Boy Arnold, Rory Block, the Heritage Blues Orchestra, John Primer, and the duo of Hans Theessink and Terry Evans all released CDs, all or a significant portion of which featured acoustic guitar playing. Living Blues, the premiere blues magazine, devoted its October issue to “The Next Generation of Acoustic Blues,” profiling seven promising new performers, most of whom have not yet been recorded. Let's hope that's only temporary.

It's also been a year of respect for the past. Billy Boy Arnold's CD is a tribute to Big Bill Broonzy. Rory Block's profiles Rev. Gary Davis. And Maria Muldaur has assembled an anthology of contemporary blues women singing Memphis Minnie's songs.

I've heard previous CDs by guitarist and singer Paul Rishell and his partner, harmonica player and singer Annie Raines. I even own one. But they didn't prepare me for the excellence of Rishell's new CD, Talking Guitar. The 62-year-old Rishell, who says he has been studying blues guitar for 47 years, has mastered the intricate picking styles of ten pre-war country blues giants, including Blind Blake, Blind Boy Fuller, Skip James, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Tommy Johnson, Leadbelly, and Charley Patton. To these 11 songs (there are two by Fuller, his favorite), he adds two original compositions done in the same style. He is joined on three tracks by Raines on harmonica. Here they are performing one of the originals, “I'm Gonna Jump and Shout,” live.

Let's be clear. This is not Paul Rishell doing these old songs in his own personal style. These tracks follow the original recordings fairly closely. This gives the CD more variety than most acoustic blues outings. In an April Living Blues interview, he explains that he made this CD for “people who don't know that much about country blues.”  (What does that say about me?)

I want them to be able to listen to these songs and pick out the parts and hear how great these guys really were without being intimidated by the fidelity of the recordings, which, in many cases, makes the songs almost impossible to listen to.

This is Paul Rishell the guitar teacher talking. Some of his guitar lessons are available free on the internet. Here's his introduction. You Tube will lead you to the other parts.

Rishell again:

That's how I think of myself: as helping people hear this music because it will help them make their life better. It's no joke. It's the truth.

Here are four honorable mentions.

• Billy Boy Arnold, Billy Boy Arnold Sings Big Bill Broonzy
  
  

• Shemekia Copeland, 33⅓
  
  

• The Heritage Blues Orchestra, And Still I Rise
  
  

• Otis Taylor, Contraband
  
  

I'll share my recommendations of some of the best historical jazz and blues CDs of 2012 in a future post.