This week’s show leans into the rougher side of the tradition: the places where bruised pride, bad decisions, and raw truth find their way into song. “The down and dirty blues” isn’t a stylistic claim so much as a shared attitude — the kind shaped by rent coming due, lovers turning cold, and the kind of trouble that sits heavy in the gut. Across the past century, singers and players have used these stories to put plainspoken feeling into motion, building grooves that don’t promise comfort so much as recognition. Across two hours, we’ll move through voices that carried this edge with conviction — men and women from the 1930s onward who weren’t at all shy about calling out mean mistreaters or confessing their own missteps. You’ll hear hard-driving cuts where guitars sting, pianos roll, and vocals land with a certain bruising weight. Tune in for the likes of Victoria Spivey, Lonnie Johnson, Dirty Red, Little Joe Blue, Howlin’ Wolf and a couple dozen others. The ‘dirty dozen’ doesn’t get much dirtier than this.
No.
1
Artist
Title
Album
Buy
2
Annisteen Allen
Down By The River
Get Hot Sleazy Rhythm & Blues Vol. 3
3
Howlin' Wolf
Down In The Bottom
Moanin' In The Moonlight
4
Victoria Spivey
Down Hill Pull
Moaning The Blues (The Blues Collection Vol.65)
5
Memphis Minnie
Dirty Mother For You
Blues Classics: '27_'69 [Disc 1]
6
Dirty Red
Mother Fuyer
Eat to The Beat: The Dirtiest of Them Dirty Blues
7
Little Junior Parker
Dirty Friend Blues
Abc of the Blues, Vol. 36
8
Little Joe Blue
Dirty Work Goin' On
Chess Blues Disc 4
9
Little Johnny Jones & The Chicago Hound Dogs
Dirty By The Dozen (Sweet Little Woman)
The Flair Story – Dust My Rhythm & Blues
10
Muddy Waters
Down South Blues
More Real Folk Blues
11
Smokey Hogg
Dirty Mistreater
The Mercury Blues Story (1945-1955) – Southwest Blues, Vol. 2
12
B.B. King
Every Day I Have the Blues
Pure R&B: Vol. 3- Let the Good Times Roll [Disc 1]
13
Amos Milburn
Hard Driving Blues
Eat to The Beat: The Dirtiest of Them Dirty Blues
14
T-Bone Walker
It's a Lowdown Dirty Deal
The Very Best of T-Bone Walker [Koch]
15
Piano Red – Dr. Feelgood
Don't Tell Me No Dirty
The Doctor's in – Disc 4
16
J.B. Lenoir
Low Down Dirty Shame
Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: J.B. Lenoir
17
Lonnie Johnson
The Dirty Dozen
Lonnie Johnson: Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 6 (1930-31)
18
Victoria Spivey
From 1 to 12 (Dirty Dozen)
The Victoria Spivey Collection 1926-1937
19
Little Milton
I Play Dirty
Living The Blues: The 70's Blues Classics
20
Jimmy Reed
Down The Road
You Dont Have To Go (The Blues Collection Vol.18)
21
Bobby Bland
Driftin' Blues
The Best Of Bobby Bland
22
Jimmy Witherspoon
Bar Fly Blues
Raw Blues
23
Wynonie Harris
Hard Luck Blues
Battle of the Blues – Volume 2
24
John Lee Hooker
Blues Before Sunrise
Don't Look Back
25
The Leap Frogs
Dirty Britches
No Jive: Authentic Southern Country Blues
26
George Harmonica Smith/Long Gone Miles
Low Down Dirty Shame [#]
Juke Joint Blues 1950's-1960's
27
Rory Block
Low Down Dirty Dog Blues
Blues Walkin' Like a Man: A Tribute To Son House
28
Amina Claudine Myers
Dirty No-Gooder's Blues
Oxford American 11th Edition Southern Music CD [Disc 2, "Arkansas Masters"]
29
Dinah Washington
Big Long Slidin' Thing
Eat to The Beat: The Dirtiest of Them Dirty Blues
30
Julia Lee & Her Boy Friends
Don't Come Too Soon
Eat to The Beat: The Dirtiest of Them Dirty Blues
31
Buddy Guy
First Time I Met the Blues
Chess Blues Disc 4
32
Geeshie Wiley
Last Kind Words Blues
Before The Blues: Early American Black Music Scene (Vol. 2)