Greatest or Most Favorite Blues Musician of all time?

Question

Who would you consider at the top of that list? My personal top three would have to be
1. Memphis Slim
2. Muddy Waters
3. Albert King

Answer 1

1. BB King - nothing like seeing him live, even now
2. Muddy Waters - his influence stretches across genres & generations
3. Stevie Ray Vaughan - his influence made blues cool again and brought it to the MTV generation
4. Robert Johnson/Son House/Charley Patton - the 3 of them single-handedly have influenced every guitar from any genre since they stepped on the scene
5. Willie Dixon - poet of the blues, brought the Chicago vets across to England, without him there would be no Stones, Beatles, Eric Clapton, and countless other Brit Rock Bands
6. Albert King - brought blues to the Hippy Folks, made it funky, godfather of the sub-genre Soul Blues
7. Bessie Smith - one of the most influential singers of her time, also a cross-genre influence and was the blues first real "Top 40" artist back in the post-war days
8. John Lee Hooker - King of the endless boogie, he too was a big part of the rebirth in the 60s for the blues
9. Buddy Guy - became King of the West Side Chicago sound, then went on tour with Junior Wells throughout the 60s, in the 80s had a rebirth with one of the best blues albums of all-time, still touring now and has brought blues to Gen-Xers through his touring with Dave Matthews & John Mayer
10. Little Walter - no one in their lifetime beside the 3 guitar players mentioned above changed the way their instrument would be played. Created the electric harmonica sound and was the original in Muddy Waters' band for years, influencing all the later comers to the chair in Muddy's band
11. Sunnyland Slim - as a father figure to many musicians, Slim helped many on the South & West Sides break into the music business and he also along with a couple contemporaries helped define the Chicago sound as we know it
12. Howlin' Wolf - the only bluesman to migrate from the Delta to Chicago on his own without being broke, Wolf's mammoth stature and crazed live performances and gravel voice had made him the equivalent of today's millions of dollars while still in the Delta in West Memphis, TN
13. Duane Allman - his ferocious slide playing can be heard on a great number of many blues/soul records cut at the Muscle Schoals Studios, as well as his own body of work with the Allman Brothers Band, his slide playing has been quintessential to both the blues-rock/blues/southern rock genre
14. Jimi Hendrix - though more known for his rock tracks, Hendrix single-handedly influenced Muddy Waters and a few others to take a turn at psychedelic blues (Waters went on to record "Electric Mud" after hearing Hendrix's version of Hoochie Coochie Man on the BBC while on tour in England), Hendrix's versatility is also apparent as he can switch between an electric and acoustic
15. Memphis Slim/Otis Spann - both of these great piano players became the stalwarts on keys in Chicago during their time, and are nonetheless the standard which all piano players were measured against since
16. Albert Collins - the Master of the Telecaster, Collins' blistering volume and screeching tone are easily recognizable, with musicians in his band & abroad, he became the Godfather of Modern Electric Blues with his comeback on the Alligator label in the late 70s.
17. Big Mama Thornton/Big Maybelle - both of these ladies had a strong influence on later female soul/rock singers like Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, Ann Peebles, Bonnie Raitt and others. Thornton being the more versatile musician of the two, can be heard on some of her recordings as a one man band playing, drums, harmonica and singing simultaneously
18. Bobby "Blue" Bland - the other godfather of modern Soul-Blues, his crystal clear crooning on his early work can still be heard on every jukebox from Memphis to Chicago, getting his start as BB King's chaffeur on Beale St. Bland caught a break with his booming voice in a club one night and went on to fame with "Further Up the Road"
19. Eric Clapton - True, he is down on this list, but it's because he's more simply a blues-rock player most of the time, however, his re-working of "Layla" his blues tunes with Derek & the Dominoes, John Mayall's Blues Breakers, and his "From the Cradle" album and more recently his work with JJ Cale make him very noteworthy on any blues afficianado's scale, though he's seemingly been the most commercially successful of all of these next to Hendrix & BB King
20. Lightnin' Hopkins - one of the most recorded musicians of all time, Hopkins simple style caught the ears of the Folk crowd in the late 60s and revived his career
21. Jimmy Reed/T-Bone Walker
22. Koko Taylor/Etta James
23. Otis Rush/Freddie King
24. Junior Wells
25. Magic Sam/Little Milton
26. Lonnie Mack
27. Paul Butterfield Blues Band
28. Elmore James/Earl Hooker
29. Pinetop Perkins
30. Big Joe Turner
31. Jimmy Rogers
32. Luther Allison/Son Seals
33. Robert Cray
34. Sonny Boy Williamson II (a.k.a. Aleck "Rice" Miller)
35. Alexis Korner
36. Mississippi Fred McDowell
37. Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
38. Lowell Fulson
39. Blind Lemon Jefferson/Blind Willie McTell
40. James Cotton
41. Big Maceo
42. Professor Longhair
43. Louis Jordan
44. Big Walter Horton
45. A.C. Reed
46. Sleepy John Estes/Big Bill Broonzy/Big Joe Williams
47. Johnny Winter/Robert Nighthawk/R.L. Burnside
48. Slim Harpo/Junior Parker
49. Taj Mahal/Bonnie Raitt/Delbert McClinton
50. Billie Holiday/Nina Simone
Honorable Mention: John Hammond, John Mayall

*This is all arbitrary, but I went by my listening pleasure and a wee bit of influence as well. Sorry for so long winded, but I don't think you can peg favorites in such a great genre. And damnit, I know I probably left some folks out.

Answer 2

Stevie Ray Vaughan

Answer 3

Jimi Hendrix

Answer 4

Robert Johnson
Bessie Smith

Answer 5

for me +++ 1 muddy waters
2 Floyd council (without him no Pink Floyd)
3 B B King always moves me

Answer 6

On a pure, bluesy level, Robert Johnson. You could hear the Mississippi Delta rolling and moving on his guitar. Also when he recorded, technology was so simple, it seems like a tape recorder. I also like Muddy Waters for the raspy feel of his song, and I like B.B. King's guitar playing.

Answer 7

The Beatles Queen Eric Clapton

Answer 8

B. B. King - Classic, but still current
Koko Taylor -Queen of the Blues
Robery Cray

Answer 9

1. BBKing 2. Stevie Ray Vaughn

Answer 10

1. JJ Cale
2. Joe Satriani
3. Eric Clapton
4. John Lee Hooker

But, its in the Eye of the Beholder. There might be one you like that nobody else likes... So there is no "Best" or "Greatest"...

Answer 11

Muddy or John Lee Hooker.