If you’re rather unfamiliar with the genre, you might think blues music, by definition, wouldn’t be the most suitable for an upbeat event like a cocktail party, wedding reception, fashion show, or other kinds of events where the point of the music is to keep the energy high. While a great blues tune might be full of passion and accomplished musicianship, it’s easy to see why the often slow pace of the songs, or their subject matter – such as hittin’ the booze, there not being any more booze, women who done the singer wrong – would be too much of a downer to add anything to the mood, or could take away from it.
Of course, this will depend on your guests – if they tend to enjoy blues music a bit, you’ll likely be able to get some hips movin’ to some John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, or other classic blues artists and the often downbeat subject matter won’t be as noticed, or will be appreciated. But even if you’re unsure of the crowd’s affinity for blues, you can still often play a little at any event.
This is because, in addition to the biggest theme of blues tunes being, well, having the blues, another, common strain of blues tune is when a bluesman lays down a rollicking rhythm to simply being amazed at a sexy woman in his presence. Whether this blown-away and sometimes even intimidated exhilaration comes from not gettin’ any for awhile, an overactive libido, or simply having some long-needed good fortune, we’ve seen that this kind of blues song adds a dose of vintagey sexiness to any event.
A great example of this kind of a song is by the Mississippi-born blues legend Sunnyland Slim (his real name was Albert Luandrew). To those who aren’t familiar with the blues, his name might not be in the first tier of bluesmen such as Hooker, King, or Muddy Waters, but it’s not for a lack of talent.
With “She Got a Thing Goin’ On” – which likely appeared in its original version on the album Really Chicago’s Blues in the late ‘60s – and many other faster-tempo tunes he recorded during his long life, the longtime Chicago resident creates an infectious mix with his exclamatory vocal lines and his groovin’, backroom-of-the-bar, boogie-woogie piano playing. You’ll find it hard not to tap your toes to the swingin’ rhythm created by a deft mingling of percussion, guitar, piano and harmonica, as well as the joyful vocals. And as a bonus, you can’t go wrong with a song that celebrates a woman’s sexiness – it makes the girls feel good, and when they do, the guys tend to feel good, too.
Sunnyland Slim – She Got a Thing Goin’ On
Blues, Cocktail Hour, Corporate Events, Dinner Music, dj nyc, djnyc, Fashion Shows, Fresh Oldies, nyc dj, Theme Events, Weddings
March 16, 2010