Bobby "Blue" Bland is anything but. He doesn't play soul-rending slide guitar; he doesn't wail away on the blues harp; he doesn't even play an instrument. All he has is his voice, but that voice is one to make the ladies swoon and the men falter. The excitement offered up on iconic blues and soul sides such as the gospel-tinged "Little Boy Blue," or the thrilling Texas blues number "Farther up the Road," find Bland a singer of peerless emotional depth and sonic impact.
Bland actually started out as a one-trick pony, singing gritty blues with the legendary Beale Streeters, an early collective that counted among its associates like-minded luminaries such as Johnny Ace and B.B. King. Through the course of his career, though, Bland learned the intricacies of phrasing and channeled his powerhouse voice to croon ballads with grace and effortlessness, which was the perfect foil to the raw impact of his gritty soul tracks. At nearly 77 years old, Bland is still a thrilling performer. Even if he can't hit quite as hard now as he could half a century ago, he still packs enough of a punch to level most modern pretenders to the blues throne.
