Lot’s of great artists & recordings listed here. I’m taking a slightly different tack. For about a decade beginning in the mid-late 70s, I moved or hung out in many places for varying lengths of time. Most of these were along the west coast, as far north as Seattle and south as San Diego.
Blues was really happening then in the bars & nightclubs, and was probably my favorite genre for most of that time. Many blues artists worked that same stretch of road. I might see someone in CA, then months later in OR or WA. Some I saw often enough that they would recognize me and we’d occasionally hang out between sets.
Here’s a hopefully fairly complete list of them. I saw everyone on this list play more than once; most at least 5-6 times. Many are no longer with us. Some are still performing, a few may even still be on the road. I apologize to anyone I inadvertently left off; they were all fine bluesmen.
Buddy Reed and th’ Rip it Ups
Rod Piazza and The Mighty Flyers
Little Charlie & the Nightcats (now Rick Estrin & the Nightcats)
John Lee Hooker
Charles Brown
Sunny Rhodes
Mark Naftalin
Ron Thompson
Roy Rogers
Joe Louis Walker
Robert Cray
Paul DeLay
Curtis Salgado
PS I see the last poster mentioned Sonny Landreth. The first time I saw him was in 1987. John Hiatt was touring behind his new release, Bring the Family, but was unable to bring the lead guitarist from the album (Ry Cooder!). Big shoes to fill, but Sonny came through with a memorable performance.
