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Time of India
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Michael B Jordan's Sinners: 10 Blues songs for beginners
The 'Blues' was never about perfection. It was about survival. Born in the shadow of slavery, tempered by the fires of poverty, and made holy by suffering, the Blues crawled out of America's cracked soil and taught the world how to bleed and still keep singing. ' Sinners ' understood that. It didn't treat the Blues like decoration — it treated it like a lifeline. If you felt the pull of that dirty, divine music while watching Sinners, here are ten songs that will keep you walking that haunted road. 1. Robert Johnson – 'Cross Road Blues' (1936) At the place where salvation ran out and damnation beckoned, Robert Johnson made his bargain. 'Cross Road Blues' is more than a song; it's a desperate prayer screamed into an uncaring sky. Johnson's slide guitar moans like a dying man, and his voice — trembling, urgent — already knows that no one is coming to save him. In Johnson, the myth and the music became inseparable, and it all started here, at the devil's own highway junction. Robert Johnson - Robert Johnson's Cross Road Blues (Official Video) 2. Son House – 'Grinnin' in Your Face' (1965) Son House needed no guitar, no band, no crutches — only his voice, older than sin itself, and his own clapping hands. 'Grinnin' in Your Face' is a sermon preached from the gutter, a warning that betrayal often comes with a smile. House's voice rises and falls like a man beating back ghosts, and you realise that sometimes the only armour against the world is knowing that your friends are sharpening their knives behind your back. 3. Howlin' Wolf – 'Smokestack Lightning' (1956) Some songs tell stories, and then some songs are stories. 'Smokestack Lightning' doesn't explain itself because hunger and heartbreak need no translator. Howlin' Wolf — a towering giant with a voice that could rattle windows and souls — howls his need into the night, riding a hypnotic riff that sounds like a train thundering toward nowhere. It's the sound of longing that doesn't end — because it doesn't want to end. 4. Muddy Waters – 'I Can't Be Satisfied' (1948) When Muddy Waters picked up an electric guitar in Chicago, the Blues didn't just get louder — it got dangerous. 'I Can't Be Satisfied' is the song of a man who knows comfort is a lie and peace is a trap. Muddy's growling voice rides a restless slide guitar, and the whole track surges with the bitter thrill of escape — even if the freedom it promises always stays just out of reach. 5. Blind Willie Johnson – 'Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground' (1927) Sometimes the words fail, and only the moan of a bottleneck slide across rusted strings can carry the weight of grief. Blind Willie Johnson, a street preacher and a master of holy sorrow, hums and sighs his way through 'Dark Was the Night,' crafting a sound so timeless and human that NASA sent it into space aboard Voyager. If there is a soundtrack for loneliness itself, it is hidden here, in these aching notes. 6. Lead Belly – 'Where Did You Sleep Last Night' (1944) Lead Belly didn't sing songs; he gutted them alive in front of you. In 'Where Did You Sleep Last Night,' betrayal becomes almost tactile, each word dripping with suspicion and heartbreak. His baritone voice swings from cold accusation to raw anguish without ever losing its terrible power, and you realise that this isn't a simple folk ballad. It's a murder mystery where love, rage, and death sleep side by side. 7. Skip James – 'Devil Got My Woman' (1931) Skip James sounds less like he's singing and more like he's haunting the song from the other side of loss. 'Devil Got My Woman' floats on an eerie falsetto and a guitar tuned to some forgotten sadness. There is no hope here, no redemption waiting around the corner — just the cold realisation that when the Devil takes what you love, all you can do is whisper the story back into the void. 8. Big Mama Thornton – 'Ball and Chain' (1968) Long before Janis Joplin tried to break it onstage, Big Mama Thornton had already shattered it with her bare hands. 'Ball and Chain' is a towering, furious lament, dragging heartbreak behind it like a battered crown. Thornton's voice doesn't plead or beg; it commands, roaring through betrayal and bitterness with the unstoppable force of a woman who refuses to be crushed, no matter how heavy the chains she carries. 9. Lightnin' Hopkins – 'Mojo Hand' (1960) Where prayers failed and sermons fell flat, Lightnin' Hopkins reached for a little backwoods magic. 'Mojo Hand' isn't about love or justice — it's about survival by any means necessary. Hopkins' sly, grinning delivery wraps around a slinking guitar riff, and the whole song shuffles forward like a man who knows that if he can't beat life, he might just out-trick it. 10. R.L. Burnside – 'Let My Baby Ride' (1998) By the time R.L. Burnside got his hands on the Blues, he had sanded it down to something raw, electric, and dangerous. 'Let My Baby Ride' is a modern Delta anthem, a snarling fusion of ancient pain and grimy guitars that sound like they were recorded in a shotgun shack on the edge of the apocalypse. Burnside didn't just play the Blues; he let it possess him, throttle him, and ride him straight into the heart of darkness. The Blues didn't invent pain. It simply refused to pretend it didn't exist. It took every wound, every betrayal, every last drunken midnight and made it immortal. It told the broken and the beaten that even if they couldn't win, they could sing — and sometimes, that was enough. If you heard the Blues in Sinners and felt it gnawing at your bones, these ten songs will make sure it never leaves you. Because the Devil doesn't shout. He hums. And once you've heard it, you hum too.
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Flogging Molly's Dave King Suffered Brain Hemorrhage, Spent Two Weeks in Coma
Flogging Molly frontman Dave King suffered a brain hemorrhage and spent two weeks in a coma earlier this year, according to a new statement from his wife and bandmate, Bridget Regan. In a post shared on Flogging Molly's social media pages, Regan offered new details about her husband's recent health crisis, which forced the band to put their performance plans on hold indefinitely. At the time, Flogging Molly said only that King was 'battling a very serious health condition' and that they would share details when they could. More from Rolling Stone Flogging Molly Scraps 2025 Shows While Dave King Battles 'Serious Health Condition' Walker Roaders Return With Booming Cover of Howlin' Wolf's 'Smokestack Lightning' Flogging Molly Detail 'Swagger' 20th Anniversary Vinyl Box Set In her new note, Regan said King suffered a brain hemorrhage on Jan. 24 and 'underwent two subsequent surgeries to save his life.' He then spent two weeks in a coma, she added, 'followed by varying stages of treatment and recovery.' Most recently, on Feb. 28, King 'underwent yet another surgery,' with Regan saying she now felt 'confident we are on the other side of this.' She continued: 'He is now entering into the next phase of his recovery and wants nothing more than to play music again. The road ahead is uncertain but we, as ever, will roll with the punches and hope to see you all in the near future.' Regan went on to thank King's neurosurgeon and all the medical professionals who've looked after him over the past few months. 'Your extraordinary level of care was also integral to him being where he is today,' she said. Ending her note, Regan said: 'To friends and family whose support was unwavering throughout this ordeal, a heartfelt thank you. And a special thanks to everyone who sent well wishes and messages of support. Please look after each other and tell your people you love them. Life can change in an instant.' King's hemorrhage forced Flogging Molly to miss their four-day Salty Dog Cruise festival, which set sail last month (the 2026 iteration is already on the books for next October). The band's headlining tour, which was set to begin on Feb. 24 in St. Petersburg, Florida, was also canceled. Best of Rolling Stone The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
