The 40s and 50s post-war migration brought tough working conditions in Chicago which offered stability over the miserable sharecropper existence of the Delta. Both were fodder for the some of the very best in classic blues. The production lines of Detroit and other cities on the Eastern seaboard were models of a different kind of work that the Industrial Age had to offer. But the West Coast wasn’t the place you’d expect to find the blues: shipyards, agriculture, and urban sprawl would aggregate so many different styles that rhythm and blues was a fusion of the many different sensibilities that were brought with both performer and listener alike westward from east of the Mississippi. Having the hub of the world of entertainment in the Southland didn’t hurt either. We’ll be browsing the sounds of some of the greats: McCracklin, Fulson, Otis, Mayfield, and (of course) T-Bone Walker in the Deeper Roots morning show today. West Coast Blues led to blues-based rock in large part because of the exposure to the many different styles of the mid-century blues bands and solo rockers. West Coast Blues Roots is the name of our show this morning on KOWS-LP Occidental.
No.
1
Artist
Title
Album
Buy
2
Johnny "Guitar" Watson
Gangster Of Love
Living The Blues: 1957-1959 Blues Classics
3
Lowell Fulson
Blue Shadows
Chess Blues Disc 4
4
T-Bone Walker
T-Bone Shuffle
Living The Blues: Blues Greats
5
Ivory Joe Hunter
Boogin' In The Rain
The Chronological Ivory Joe Hunter 1947
6
Amos Milburn
One, Two, Three, Everybody
Amos Milburn Rocks
7
Amos Milburn
One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer
Amos Milburn Rocks
8
Floyd Dixon
Hey Bartender
Marshall Texas Is My Home
9
Big Jay McNeely
The Deacon's Hop
Living The Blues – Jump Blues & Boogie
10
Percy Mayfield
Please Send Me Someone To Love
Blues Masters Vol. 3: Texas Blues
11
Johnny Guitar Watson
Mortorhead Baby
So-Cal Speed Shop's Hot Rod Classics Disc 1
12
Little Esther And Willie Littlefield
Turn the Lights Down Low
Rhythm & Blues Goes Rock & Roll Vol 2 [Disc 13]
13
Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson
Gonna Send You Where I Got You From
Mercury B&R Story '45-'55 – [Disc 1]: Midwest Blues V1
14
Peppermint Harris
I Got Loaded
Loaded, Vol. 1
15
Jimmy McCracklin
The Walk
Pure R&B: Vol. 2- Somethings Got a Hold on Me [Disc 1]
16
Little Willie Littlefield
K. C. Loving
Roots Of Rock & Roll – Rough And Rowdy [Disc 10]
17
T-Bone Walker
Stormy Monday
The Very Best of T-Bone Walker [Koch]
18
Roy Milton
The Hucklebuck
Specialty Profiles: Roy Milton
19
Floyd Dixon
Call Operator 210
The Cocktail Combos [Disc 3]
20
Johnny Otis
Baby Baby Blues
Mercury Blues 'n' Rhythm Stars
21
Johnny Otis
Head Hunter
The Roots Of Frank Zappa
22
Etta James
Good Rockin Daddy
The Complete Modern & Kent Recordings 1
23
Pee Wee Crayton
Blues After Hours
ABC Of The Blues Vol 7
24
Johnny Moore's Three Blazers
Driftin' Blues
Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: Piano Blues – A Film By Clint Eastwood