@soix- I respect your view and you may be right. Thanks for the courteous and thoughtful response. (Keb Mo' was fabulous in concert; Ditto, Etta James, who I considered a blues singer, and a long list of others).
My personal issue with the blues has to do with a feeling of authenticity. And not about playing style, "period," (acoustic or electric) or the like. Sometimes, I hear bands and players who just simply dial it in- like they hit the notes, but the passion isn't there. Of all the now gone performers I wished I had seen live, it was probably Jimi H- I was told by someone that he'd warm up w/ a blues tune and if the audience was with him, he'd play his ass off. Otherwise, he'd just do his show and walk off.
The thing I like about that Clapton track I posted is that it is an early example of "riding feedback" pretty much throughout the track. I'm not sure how prevalent that was at the time. Elmore James was pretty notorious for a highly juiced (overloaded) sound--something that Duane Allman picked up on. To me, the early Clapton is my favorite of his work- that board recording of Cream at the Grande in Detroit in 'Oct '67 is absolutely killer. Sadly, it has never been legitimized and remains a bootleg.
my regards,
Bill Hart