This post is dedicated to the ladies -- specifically, the ladies who sing the gritty, sexy, grindy, gut-bucket blues. There's been only one woman named in this thread so far, and while Alberta Hunter was a great one to name, this shortage will not stand. I love a woman wailing out the blues.
Most of the links below are Rhapsody links to the artists' profiles or albums there. You'll have to pick out the songs I named from the list, but it's free to listen to the whole song, and you get good sound quality.
Let's kick things off right:
Big Mama Thornton. "Hound Dog" is an incredible classic (
you can see how it makes me feel), but "Ball N' Chain" is also pure gold.
Katie Webster - "I Want You to Love Me." You can love me as much as you want, honey.
Marva Wright - The version of "Built for Comfort"
on this album is my favorite of hers. The lyrics to this song are some of the best in blues music (credit to Willie Dixon). She also kills on
"Heartbreakin' Woman" and "St. James Infirmary."
Barbara Morrison - "They Call Me Sundown" (YouTube). Barbara Morrison is more of a jazz singer, but she knows how to get low down and dirty, too. Sadly, I don't have a link to a better quality recording of her doing this song.
Sandra Hall - Use What You Got. Sandra makes another compelling case for big girls, and she's not at all subtle about the innuendo.
Sandra Hall and Francine Reed are both heard
on this live album with Sweet Betty. The songs to listen to are Sandra's "Pump Up Your Love," Francine's "I Want You to Love Me," (same title as the Katie Webster song earlier, but this is a different song entirely), and Sweet Betty's "Brown Liquor."
Dinah Washington. Dinah Washington isn't as gritty or raw as the women above, and she does a lot of jazz, not just blues, but her tracks
"Big Long Slidin' Thing" and
"Long John Blues," ostensibly about her trombone player and her dentist, respectively, are more than dirty enough to qualify for this post.
For Kudzudemon, the Alberta Hunter album you're looking for is
this one. She's playing with the Gerald Cook quartet, Vic Dickerson on trombone, and Doc Cheatham on trumpet. In addition to that track, "Darktown Strutter's Ball" from this album is amazing, but "My Handyman" is the one that's in the context of this post. It's one of the most innuendo-wrought songs ever written.
Black women aren't the only women who can sing blues, naturally. There are some white girls out there who can more than hold their own. Caroline Loftus's version of
"I Put a Spell on You" is painfully sexy, as is Louise Hoffsten singing
"I Just Want to Make Love to You." You can
see how I feel the latter of these, too.
Lalah Hathaway sings an awesome version of
"Fever" with Joe Sample.
Nina Simone. If you haven't heard her version of
"Feeling Good," you've probably been living under a rock, but it's a powerhouse (Michael Buble can eat a bowl of dicks). Her version of
"Do I Move You?" doesn't get as much play, but damn, she moves me on that track.
Let's wrap up with Koko Taylor.
This whole album kills, but definitely listen to "I Got What It Takes," and "Black Nights."
On this album, her take on Muddy Waters's "Mannish Boy" that she does as "I'm a Woman" is also something else.
