Otis Rush – Ain’t Enough Comin’ In audio cassette (1994)

Ohhhh yeaaahhhh…. This. Is. The stuff. In 1994, an Otis Rush studio album release was a completely new experience to an entire generation. Not since the 1970s had Rush bestowed a non-live album upon the world, and whilst I’d heard his name before, it was the UK publicity which went with this release, in spring ’94, that alerted me to his capabilities. The early 1990s had seen an explosion of traditional American blues, and whilst this product from Otis Rush could have done with being recorded and released two or three years earlier (for its own commercial sake more than anything), it was most welcome, and it’s remained a very important release within the blues genre.

Dr John – In a Sentimental Mood audio cassette (1989)

Here’s someone who’s lived a life. One time rogue, prolific session musician, immensely respected figure in American roots music… Mac Rebennack, much better known as Dr. John, is a genuine New Orleans pianist, vocalist and musician, most associated with the classic New Orleans blues/jazz style of piano. Whilst he’s also played guitar for a good proportion of his career, it’s the influence of Professor Longhair and a number of other cool and unorthodox American pianists which defines what he’s about.

John Lee Hooker – Boom Boom (1992)

It’s now getting on for a hundred years since John Lee Hooker was born. Regrettably, he died in 2001, but he surely must remain as one of the most memorable genuine and fully authentic blues artists of all time.

It’s widely felt that in the business of popular music, once an artist hits his/her forties (if not before), his/her appeal to the main sector of the commercial market will diminish to a critical low. There are exceptions, but very few artists aged well over 70(!) could have reached out to the mass market, from college kids right through to pensioners, the way John Lee Hooker did in the early 1990s.