A little elaboration on my Melvin Taylor post above. Used to spend a bit of time in Chicago before my kids were born and have been fortunate enough to see live: Buddy Guy, Albert Collins, Luther Allison and some other big names. Have heard just about everyone mentioned in this post with the exception of Jimmy Thackery-haven't heard his stuff. What I can tell you is that if you polled 50 blues guitarists in Chicago (no disrespect to Texans, but when it comes to blues guitar, I think Chicago is the spot) about who is the best, Melvin would probably be at the top of the list. He has great diversity in style (something I would not say about Buddy Guy), incredible technique and his playing is truly musical (something that cannot be said about many guys that can just play "fast"). His music also packs a real emotional wallop-all in all he's the total guitar package, although not a great singer. CD does not do him total justice; if you're in Chicago check out a live performance at Rosa's on West Armitage close to the United Centre-he's not flashy on stage or showy the way Buddy is, and most of the crowd are musicians watching his hands in total disbelief. His new release that I mentioned above is quite good with guest appearances by Eric Gales and Sugar Blue-I'd be curious to hear what you guys thought of it. In my opinion, Melvin is simply in another league.
