Can a white guy really sing Blues?

SRV also gained the respect of Albert King, which was no small feat.

 

How can you forgot Southside Johnny?!!

 

White guys and the blues... Hmmmm... Very few can pull it off. Aside from Stevie Ray Vaughn, I can't think of any that due to justice. God, have you heard Steve Hackett's Blues with Feeling!?! The guitar playing is fine but the vocals... GOOD GOD!!

 

First off, Everybody gets the blues, or feels like they have the blues! OK!!

Can it be expressed!! YES!!

Do you have to be of any certain race/creed/color? NO!!

Is this thread wrong!! YES!! (If you know what I mean)~~~!!!!

 

Lonnie Mack!

 

Lowell George on "Directly From My Heart To You" on the Mothers of Invention LP Weasles Ripped My Flesh.

I'll also second Captain Beefheart.

I have to agree that this thread is kind of racist. It's like asking black people can play classical music (which the answer would be yes and the list would be long).

 

As David Bromberg says, "You got to suffer if you want to sing the blues" and he can sing 'em. So could Roy Buchannon (sp?).

 

Yes they can can.
The late Richard Newell, aka King Biscuit Boy.

 

Hell, I"M a white guy, and I can play Jazz, Blues, AND the drums! Triple threat!

Evan

 

Can a white guy really sing Blues?

Sure he can, but the likelihood is that a black guy will sing it better.

 

Well, the only two I ever cared about were John Hammond Jr. and a guy named Bob Guida, who's a New Jersey mortician of Italian descent - but seeing him play live, he was authentic.

 

I don't think this thread is wrong. If it were, it would have been locked or removed by now. I don't think it's race-baiting. I think it was meant to be fun, or to prove the premise of the thread title wrong.

As far as everyone expressing emotion is concerned, some singers just don't. They probably can't. For example, I think MACCA feels pain, but he judt doesn't express it in his music vocally or lyricaly. He can play the blues. Karen Carpenter had a beautiful, sometimes, even sultry voice, but I just don't usually FEEL what she sings. "Hurting Each Other" was close.

 

Hey, I play drums...oops! I'm black!

But I can't play sports and have no interest in it.

 

While I disagree with the the idea that ethnicity is a pre-requisite for stylistic authenticity, some of the suggestions for white blues singers have me scratching my head: Robert Plant? Mick Jagger? John Lennon? Although they're effective singers in front of blues-based bands, I can't really call them blues singers.

Some of the other suggestions are blues singing, to be sure, but are blatantly imitative: Joe Cocker/Ray Charles; Rod Stewart/Sam Cooke; John Fogerty/Howlin' Wolf. No knock on 'em; if I could sing like any of those guys, I'd do it until I was hoarse!

Is it possible for a white singer to have an authentic blues voice that isn't an imitation? We have Van Morrison, who certainly has his influences, but sounds like no one else. Songs like "Almost Independence Day" and "Listen To The Lion," and most of the IT'S TOO LATE TO STOP NOW live album, sound like blues singing to me. Elvis Presley is a pretty incontrovertible choice. He recorded few undiluted blues, but was convincing when he did, without sounding much like anyone else. And although she's a little too histrionic for my tastes, Janis Joplin would be a suggestion I'd have to agree with.

So the answer is, "Yes!"

 

I don't concentrate on the voice. That is insignificant to me. Again, what matters is the feeling, the emotion. If a singer doesn't relate to what he/she is singing, it's nothing more than painting by the numbers.

I didn't say John Lennon was a blues singer, I said he sang with the pain *I* can feel. THAT'S the blues!

There *may* be a cultural element to being able to sing the blues. In other words, I believe some cultures don't exactly nurture the expression of emotion.

 

I lost a hundred dollars at the racetrack this morning...

Man have I been singing the blues...

Hank Williams... Ramblin Man.

 

Listen to SRV do Howlin Wolf's Shake For Me. My answer is yes.

And let's not forget Captain Beefheart!

 

Right on!

 

Another vote for Joe Cocker. Don't know if I'd describe him as an imitator, although he was often compared to Ray Charles whn he was starting out.

 

Joe Cocker's a great blues singer, and let's not forget another Ray Charles-esque singer, Steve Winwood.

 

I've seen and heard John Hammond sing the blues.

I've heard Van Morrison and Joe Cocker sing the blues.

That's not a lot of white guys, but it puts to rest the original question (or supposition) in my mind.

 

Stevie Ray Vaughan

 

I was surprised! No one has mentioned the late great Terry Kath of Chicago.
This band is really underrated.
Here's an excerpt from Guitar One Magazine.
Chicago's original guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Terry Kath was real bluesy and very soulful. Listen to his songs from the first album "Chicago Transit Authority" to his last album with the band before he died, "Chicago XI. Soundgarden's Chris Cornell admires Terry Kath's vocal style and admitted that that he had Kath's vocal style in mind when he plugged in to record his first solo effort, "Euphoria Morning" (A&M). "When we started recording this album," recalled Cornell, "I told everyone involved that what I was hearing vocally was white soul from the late '60s and early '70s, singers like Terry Kath. Because back then, it was cool to be a blue-eyed soul singer. It was still aggressive and kind of dangerous. It wasn't merely white guys trying to sound black, it was a natural influence that was being incorporated into what they did. They were almost overly dramatic, but in a really cool way. I like that."
Aside from being a good bluesy singer, he's a monster when it comes to guitar playing.

SOURCE: Guitar One Magazine August 2001 issue.
ARTICLE TITLE: Gone Too Soon - A Tribute To 65 Fallen Heroes"

 

Terry Kath! Good One!