Modern Electric Texas Blues

Ice Pickin' is the album that brought Albert Collins directly back into the limelight, and for good reason, too. The record captures the wild, unrestrained side of his playing that had never quite been documented before. Though his singing doesn't quite have the fire or power of his...

Stevie Ray Vaughan is one of the most innovative guitarists of all time. He forged a sound that managed to be tremendously distinctive while at the same time acknowledging of its influences, bluesman Albert King and jazz guitarist Kenny Burrell foremost among them. And it proved to be this sound...

Stevie Ray Vaughan had always been a phenomenal guitarist, but prior to In Step, his songwriting was hit or miss. Even when he wrote a classic modern lues song, it was firmly within the genre's conventions; only on Soul to Soul's exquisite soul-blues "Life Without You" did...

Only 12 songs long, this collection remains the best place to begin appreciating why so many young Texas blues guitarists fell in love with Gatemouth Brown's style (until MCA decides to compile the ultimate Brown package, anyway). Listen to the way his blazing axe darts and weaves through...

Hip-O's Ultimate Collection is one of the first truly comprehensive overviews of Freddie King's career, starting with his seminal recordings for Federal and running all the way to his final recordings for RSO in the mid-'70s. This is a mixed blessing. On one hand, it's nice...

The phrase "very best of" in an album title usually indicates a highly selective collection of an artist's career highlights. By that standard, in one sense Collectables Records' The Very Best of Freddy King, Vol. 1 should be called something else; a more accurate description...

Johnny's second Columbia album shows an artist in transition. He's still obviously a Texas bluesman, recording in the same trio format that he left Dallas with. But his music is moving toward the more rock & roll sounds he would go on to create. The opener, "Memory Pain,"...

When Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown walked into the studio in the early '80s to record Alright Again!, he had already had an illustrious career by most standards. Yet, much of Gate's best output had been behind him by more than two decades; with Alright Again!, he set out to...

Sins is a good fusion of Texas and Delta blues, alternating between rocking shuffles and laidback ballads. Funderburgh's playing is tasteful -- he has an enticing sound, but he never falls into grandstanding -- and Sam Myers's voice is rich and his harp playing intoxicating....

Smokin' Joe Kubek's debut album is a delight. Kubek leads his band through a set of smoking hot Texas and Memphis blues, delivered with passion -- they can play this music with precision, but they choose to be looser and more fun than most traditionalists. Kubek's a skillful...

One of the most satisfying contemporary Brown discs of all for the discerning blues fan. Nothing but swinging, horn-abetted blues adorn this album, as Gate pays tribute to an influence and a protege by covering T-Bone Walker's

Young Texas guitarist Anson Funderburgh and veteran harpist Sam Myers got along so well during the making of this fine set that they got their act together and took it on the road. Happily, it remains there, with Myers deftly fronting Funderburgh's Rockets. Myers's booming voice and...

The innovative guitar wizard when he was young and wearing his Texas blues roots prominently on his sleeve. Watson spent two stints at King/Federal, both of them sampled here: his 1953-54 output includes the incomparable "Space Guitar," and a sizzling "Half Pint of Whiskey,"...

Smokin' Joe Kubek's third Rounder album juggles blues-rock originals with faithful, exuberant covers of Jimmy Reed, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters and Little Walter Jacobs, among others. Kubek is a good, sometimes captivating guitarist and entertaining singer, if not the greatest pure...

Stevie Ray Vaughan was a great guitarist, but he had trouble making consistent albums. Greatest Hits rectifies that problem by collecting all of his best-known tracks, from "Pride and Joy" to "Crossfire." Not only is it a terrific introduction, it's his most consistent...

Deluxe Edition is a solid, albeit imperfect, 13-track collection of highlights from Albert Collins latter-day recordings for Alligator. There are only a handful of genuine classics, but there are a lot of great performances that spotlight Collins stinging guitar work and impassioned vocals....

When guitarist and singer Johnny Winter arrived to sign with Columbia in 1968, he spent his first night in New York City jamming with Jimi Hendrix. He then hit Nashville to produce his self-titled debut and its follow-up, Second Winter. Second Winter sports unreleased material, including...

Shout! Factory's two-disc The Funk Anthology compiles the best of lues icon Johnny "Guitar" Watson's recordings for the DJM label from 1970 to 1981. Also included are three tracks off Watson's 1994 comeback album, Bow Wow. A hugely influential artist, Watson was often...

Texans have always had the reputation of doing things in a big way which may be the reason why Stevie Ray Vaughan plays a six-string guitar. He plays with the reckless abandonment of a rock musician whose heavy chords slam in a deep blues tradition. For many this sophomore release Couldn't...

The posthumously assembled ten-track outtakes collection The Sky Is Crying actually proves to be one of Stevie Ray Vaughan's most consistent albums, rivaling In Step as the best outside of the Greatest Hits collection. These songs were recorded in sessions spanning from 1984's...