Topic: Looking for Great Blues songs that aren't 1-4-5

[Shambolic]

I've got a few great Skip James And Blind Willie Johnson numbers down and am looking for some more blues greats that are not 1-4-5 . I know a fair few others but won't list them all. Any chance of giving me some pointers?

[waxwing]

Catfish Blues, by Robert Petway, is just a I. That's pretty exciting. There are lots of other 1 chord blues. Then there are somr that are I, IV, with no V and some that are I, V, with no IV. You should follow all the John Miller threads about different families of songs, in which he highlites many various chord progressions. You can also get into rags, which feature a VI, II,V, I progression, usually with a IV thrown in between.

Wax

[alyoung]

For stripped-to-basics blues, many with only a 1 chord, look to North Mississippi for a bunch of players headed by Fred McDowell and also including R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, Robert Belfour et al. Wonderful stuff, all of it.

[Lastfirstface]

Mississippi Sheiks certainly throw in a fair share of II and VI chords, and even a few things more exotic than that.

[Thomas8]

CHARLIE JACKSON!!!!

[Gmaj7]

Fahey's Joe Kirby Blues (originally called Jim Lee Blues though it sounds nothing like Patton's), from memory it's in A minor but has an F6 chord in there - so a VI chord?

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Clifford Gibson's "Don't Put That Thing On Me" is a beautiful 8-bar blues that goes to a ii minor chord in the third and fourth bars.
All best,
Johnm