AllMusic 2014 Year in Review
Favorite Blues Albums
Take a break from holiday madness with our editors' picks for the best blues albums of 2014, featuring Dave & Phil Alvin, Benjamin Booker, Gary Clark, Jr, Leo Welch, and Joe Louis Walker.
Ragged, invigorating modern garage-blues from the young Tampa Bay guitarist/singer.
Billy Branch & the Sons of Blues
Ace harmonica player and his top-notch band shine on this set of classic-style Chicago blues and upbeat R&B.
Fowler's guitar lines cut though sharp as Texas wind over a Louisiana swamp in his third outing for Blind Pig Records.
Common Ground: Dave & Phil Alvin Play and Sing the Songs of Big Bill Broonzy
The Blasters' founders pay homage to the iconic bluesman Big Bill Broonzy in their first studio collaboration since 1985.
Specter's guitar playing swings, bites, and slides through everything, singing its heart out.
On his second solo album, the guitarist heads to Chicago and delivers an album that melds electric blues, vintage R&B, and rock.
Modern acoustic blues that is calm, serious, warm, thoughtful, and wonderfully recorded.
If this is truly the past and future of the blues rolled into one, then the blues is in really good hands.
An open-hearted examination of mistakes, wrong turns, and attempts at redemption.
Prolific blues guitarist delivers a winner; a versatile and powerful set with dashes of rock, soul, R&B, and even psychedelia.
Mississippi guitarist with a hybrid sound that makes the blues and gospel speak together in one voice.
Perhaps his most well-rounded and personal album yet, capturing the blues as an ever-flowing, joyous, and ultimately uplifting thing.
Fourth album from this blues and jazz revivalist shows he can play with fire and skill while sounding like a true gentleman.
The Mississippi guitarist showcases his writing ability in this riveting autobiographical song cycle drenched in blues, country, and folk.
This set of road-weary, brooding highway songs is the late-blooming songwriter and guitarist's finest offering to date.
Ronnie Earl / Ronnie Earl & the Broadcasters
In another excellent offering, the band showcases why it is one of the most consistent and dynamic outfits in contemporary blues.
Hard Luck Child: A Tribute to Skip James
Celebrated guitarist and singer pays homage to one of her key influences on this splendid acoustic blues session.
Bright, optimistic collection of modern blues and neo-soul produced by Meshell Ndegeocello.
The songwriter's Oliver Wood-produced set is his leanest-sounding and most diverse musically, though blues remains at its heart.
The Cats / Robert Cray / Robert Cray Band
Exceptional mellow soul-blues album from the veteran guitarist.
On his second self-released album, the Georgia guitarist and band offer a searing, diverse set of electric blues.
![The Devil You Know [Bonus Tracks]](https://rovimusic.rovicorp.com/image.jpg?c=YuZlRypUbOUoogImlDimVt_M69_UI9rrJSVvWL2-yAg=&f=4)
Tommy Castro / Tommy Castro & the Painkillers
The Devil You Know [Bonus Tracks]
The new configuration of Castro's band has him fired up and roaring on the Stratocaster with a renewed sharpness.