Ronald Taylor2 said:I find your argument fundamentally flawed. Those legendary exceptions created the most incredible blues ever heard. Take someone like Stevie Ray Vaughan, for instance—he was an absolute force of nature who could outplay the old guard regardless of their background. In my view, you simply cannot go any further than that within the genre. Beyond that point, you move into the dimension of Hendrix, and those guys are operating on an entirely different, otherworldly level altogether.
Let’s not be quite so hasty with our conclusions. I have nothing but respect for SRV; he was a phenomenal musician, but you are overstating the case. He didn't bury the old guard; rather, he revitalized the blues for the '80s. Like any great bluesman, he brought his own unique flavor to the genre, but claiming he replaced the legends is simply incorrect. Those veterans were still active and doing their thing, and if they weren't getting the coverage they once did, that isn't necessarily on them. Furthermore, if he truly had buried the old guard, he would have effectively buried himself, because without those foundations, SRV wouldn't have existed at all. If he had actually pushed them aside, he wouldn't have been sharing stages with Buddy Guy, Albert King, and the rest of that lineage. We should certainly acknowledge Stevie as one of the greats—and frankly, as the only white blues player I can stand to listen to—but we must maintain respect for the men who accomplished far greater things long before he was even born. Without the groundwork laid by those preceding him, there would be no reason to celebrate Stevie today.
Greetings.
