The first time I came in contact with Blues was through my older brother’s LP collection. Among other things, he had John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers featuring Eric Clapton. At the time I was about 9 years old. I eventually started playing guitar at 17, with my good friend Klaas van Kuilenburg. There was no Youtube and Spotify yet where you can find everything now if you want to learn to play guitar. I bought the instruction book by Ted Oberg (Livin’ Blues). The barré F chord was a big obstacle. It took weeks before that one succeeded and we could at least play “House Of The Rising Sun. The next step was figuring out solos. One of the first was the Eric Clapton version of Freddie King’s ‘Hideaway’ that was on the Bluesbreakers LP. Each time the needle of the pickup was reset completely ruined the LP, of course. Later I bought a pickup with a 16-rpm function. Then the solo sounded a lot slower and it was easier to hear what was happening. This way I picked out dozens of solos and licks.
One of the first blues LPs I bought myself was “Natural Boogie” by Hound Dog Taylor & the Houserockers. Not nearly as virtuosic as Clapton, but the rawness and energy of the music came in like a sledgehammer blow! There was no bass player there, just drums and 2 guitars. I especially loved the song “Sadie. It had a kind of hypnotic vibe that really appealed to me. I later found that in the music of Howlin’Wolf, R.L Burnside and Fred McDowell, among others. Often songs with 1 chord that have that same hypnotic, trance-like feel. I’ve had periods over the years where I listened to or played a certain kind of music, but I always come back to these heroes. Somehow it never sounds dated. Bands of today like Black Keys and My Baby also base themselves on this down-home Blues and prove they can appeal to a large audience. My current Blues duo Richville with Jody van Ooijen on drums is a direct result of my love for this “primal music.