If one artist has ever changed the world of blues music, that artist would be Eric “Slow Hand” Clapton. Clapton has been one of the most influential blues performers of our time and has changed the world with his soulful singing and talented guitar playing. He is one of those artists that you just have to listen to when the mood strikes. The great thing about Eric is how versatile of a player that he is.

For example, “Tears in Heaven” is much different style and feel when compared to “White Room”. Both songs are challenging in their own way to learn as a musician but as a general listener, you can just hear the different moods between the songs.

Lots of his work is like this, it’s very complicated. Clapton can play great melodies and solos even when he plays slow, earning him the nickname “Slow Hand”. At the same time however, Clapton is also a fantastic fast player on the electric and also has the nickname of “God” to many of his die-hard fans.

It’s important to look at the history of this artist to more fully understand his music as a whole. Eric was born in England to a sixteen year old mother. His grandparents took him under their wing and raised him as their son while his mother posed as his sister.

He wouldn’t learn the truth about his heritage until he turned nine years old. This was very troubling for young Eric and he started to do poorly in school and had to go to secondary school to try to get back on track. After secondary school Clapton attended a few art schools but dropped out due to “excessive” rock and roll.

Clapton was 13 when he got his first guitar, a heavy thing with steel strings which made it difficult to play for the beginner player. Then when he was 17 he joined his first band, The Roosters. The Roosters were very short lived, but Clapton started to gain notoriety among the local scene musicians. It was apparent even then of the young artists talent. It was this same year, 1963, when he was picked up by Yardbirds. He played with the Yardbirds for a while before the band started to move to more of a commercial rock sound of those times.     

John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers would be the next band that Eric would lend his services to. It was with this band that Clapton would earn his second nickname “God” due to a fans display of affection on London’s Islington Tube Station. He would play with the Bluesbreakers on and off until 1966 when he joined one of his most famous bands, Cream.

Cream was an awesome band. “Sunshine of Your Love” and “White Room” are two of their more popular songs. “White Room” has one of the hardest guitar solo’s ever written by a band. The other members of Cream include Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker.

Cream was only together for two short years but during that time they make music that would influence artists forever. Songs on their three albums during this time showcased the talent in this band. While in the band, Clapton expanded the entire blues genre by incorporating his signature licks into the music.

Basically, it breaks down like this: if the blues where the Bible, artists like B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Skip James would be the Old Testament and Clapton would be the New Testament. Well, you would probably have to include others in it as well, like Jack White, but the list goes on and on. 

After the break of Cream, Eric found himself in a standstill of his career. He continued to search for a band to allow him to show off his musical talent and joined with several other artists during this time but each attempt was ultimately unsuccessful.

It wouldn’t be until 1974 and the release of his album 461 Ocean Boulevard, that he would be back in the saddle musically. It was time for Clapton to start being cool again as he embarked on his full-fledged solo career.

Now, I’m a product of the 80’s, and growing up, I got to hear Clapton’s newest stuff first hand. This is how I originally got interested in this artist. Then, over the years, I began listening to his earlier work.

One of the first songs that I ever heard from him was “Wonderful Tonight” and I thought it was absolutely heartwarming.

That’s one of the things I like about Clapton, he sings what he feels. Not what he thinks he should sing or what everyone else wants him to sing. He just sings what is on his mind.

I’m really glad that he actually started singing in addition to playing guitar, because he is an excellent singer and songwriter. Why waste talent right?

Another good thing about Clapton is that each one of his albums have a different sound and feel to them. Something that you don’t see everyday in musicians. Usually, they just stick to a formula to keep their music different but still having a signature sound to it.

Clapton didn’t do any of that. He just made music that he felt was good, and it was good. He’s such a diverse artist musically that I don’t think that he could stick to a cookie-cutter format even if he wanted to. 

I mean, the guy just oozes talent and lots of guitar players can’t even come close to him. Sure, they can try, but they will never be as good as Clapton. Clapton is “God” after all.

Tom Petty and the Heart Breakers began making records in the 70’s. Now some 40 years later Tom is still a pillar of musical genius. He began playing guitar during his high school years in the 60’s. His style is considered to be slow and bluesy, the definitive sound of Southern Rock. Now, I know that artist’s hate genre branding, but Petty and his band helped defined the genre, not many artists can say that.

Petty’s music features a lot of acoustic rock styling's mixed with bluesy funk sounding riffs. It’s great music to just sit and chill too or sing along with while in the car. While other artists were developing their music into a more metal and glam feel, Petty and The Heart Breakers were continuing to shape their own music, away from the glitz and glamour that was overtaking the nation during that time.

Tom and the band remained true to their roots and continued to create music that people both liked and was different than the other bands that were emerging during the late 70’s and early 80’s.

Tom and the band are great influences to their fellow musicians standing up strong for artist rights. I think this is important as well because artist’s should have creative control over their music. Tom wanted control over what label would manage his music back in the 70’s when the record company tried to switch labels on him without his consent.

Personally, I think Tom just wanted to say in the loop, and why not? Every artist wants to know where their money is coming from.

Petty is mostly known for playing Gibson and Fender Guitars. Most notable of his collection are his Gibson Dove and his 1964 Strat in sunburst. He has also designed a Signature model Rickenbacker guitar for Rickenbacker Guitars. Rickenbacker guitars were originally made famous by the Beatles.

The history of the band stems from 1976 when the group, consisting of Tom Petty, Mike Campbell, Ron Blair, Benmont Tench, and Stan Lynch, began working on their debut self titled album. The album wasn’t immediately successful for the band. In fact the band wouldn’t become successful until three years later with their release of Damn the Torpedoes, released under a new record label.

The band would continue on adding and subtracting members over the years. Fellow band mates of the crew included Howie Epstein, Scott Thurston and  Steve Ferrone.

The band have released a total of ten albums thus far, the most current being The Last DJ in 2002. Petty has also enjoyed a lucrative solo career while releasing three solo albums during this time. His most recent solo work is called Highway Companion and was released in 2006. Tom is also a member of the Traveling Wilburys, a super group comprising of Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, George Harrison and Jeff Lynne.

Tom Petty and The Heart Breakers are a band known for their talents in the art of story telling. Most, if not all of their music, tells a story. This is a great artistic talent to have because it gives listeners something entertaining to listen too.

This also sets them apart from many other bands that just infuse emotion into their music. Tom Petty and The Heart Breakers music has pulp to it. It gives you something to follow along with as you listen to it. It’s great thinking music.

Throughout the years Tom has also focused his talents into the realm of television, appearing on an episode of the Simpsons where he attempts to teach Homer about songwriting. Other spots include small parts in the movies FM, Made in Heaven and The Postman.

With amazing talent, awesome songs and a rock attitude that invented Classic Rock Tom Petty and the Heart Breakers have won their way into the hearts and souls of many die-hard fans all over the world. Their music is truly inspiring and has served as a base for many new artists of today. They have and will always continue to lift up the spirits of fans, where ever they may be.

Darius Rucker is one of those artists that likes to expand his possibilities in his life. His vast range of musical skills has led this artist to release an album that sold 16 million copies and to further expand his musical portfolio with genre bending songs.

Darius first performed professionally with Hootie and the Blowfish which started in 1994. Their first album Cracked Rear View is one of the most memorable albums of the 90's.

With Cracked Rear View the world was introduced to a melodic mix of bluesy loved soaked tales that the band used to swoon it's way into the hearts of millions of adoring fans. Some tracks featured on the album were "Hold Her Hand", “Only Want to Be With You", and "Let Her Cry".

The band since then created four additional full-length studio albums and they performed relatively well for the group. The band also was featured on the Friends Soundtrack with their single "I Go Blind", which became widely popular during that time.

Darius also expanded his musical career by playing with several different performances during this time. One such artist is Edwin McCain which he shares some of the singing duties on the song "Solitude".

The band also formed their own record label, Breaking Records,  in 1996 due to their success. Some artists featured on this label included The Meat Puppets, Little Children and Treehouse.

Along with helping with producing with these bands, Hootie also recorded a song for the movie Me, Myself and Irene during this time.

Since then Darius has put Hootie and The Blowfish on the back burner to cross over to the realm of Country Music. While he’s still a member of Hootie and The Blowfish his new solo career is performing quite well for this artist.

Darius’s solo album, titled Learn to Live, is shaping up to be one of the hottest country albums of this decade. It currently features three #1 hit singles on the album. Hits included on this album feature “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It”, “Alright”, and “It Won’t Be Like This for Long”. This is quite an astonishing feat for any artist to achieve.

Born John Anthony Gillis, Jack White III is considered to be one of the greatest independent artists of our time. Jack has been involved with severall music and film projects in recent years and is highly respected amongst his fellow peers of professionals.

Jack first played professionally with a band called Goober and The Peas in metro Detroit before founding The White Stripes in 1997. John teamed up with Meg White and the couple had married, with John taking her last name.

At first the band presented themselves as siblings and many people in the general public believed the couple to be brother and sister. This was later proved false and the couple divorced shortly after.

While The White Stripes were still around they recorded a lot of material, mostly using independent recording techniques. This is quite impressive due to the amount of solid hits that the band produced. The White Stripes created six studio albums while they were together. These included their self titled album along with other albums like Elephant, Get Behind Me Satan, De Stijl, White Blood Cells and Icky Thump.

All of these albums contained memorable tracks, high-lighted on these albums are songs such as “Jimmy the Exploder”, “Hello Operator”, “Hotel Yorba”, “Fell in Love with a Girl”, “Offend in Every Way”, “We’re Going to be Friends”, “Seven Nation Army”, “The Hardest Button to Button”, “Little Ghost”, and “Icky Thump”.

What made this songs so great is how they sounded, the intricate way Jack performed complicated guitar solo’s coupled with Meg’s hard driving rhythm on the sticks. It’s not all about the instrumentals though, the lyrics on these albums were obscure but catchy and very well done. 

In 2005, Jack started up another band called The Raconteurs and the band also enjoyed some success for Jack and the rest of the band by recording two studio albums during their time together. Their most notable song would be “Steady as She Goes” from Broken Boy Soldiers. The band also went by the name The Saboteurs in Australia due to the fact that there was already a band by the name of The Raconteurs there already. 

Jack’s latest band is called The Dead Weather and was formed in 2009. They currently have a new album out entitled Horehound which is available through links on this page. 

The great thing about Jack White III is his style of guitar. The bluesy melodies and rude sounding power riffs are at the core of what makes this artist unique. In the White Stripes he and Meg are famous for taking relatively simple sounds and turning them into a very workable musical format with a one of a kind sound and feel to them. For example “Seven Nation Army’s” drum beat is very simple but the contradicting guitar riff compliments the sound perfectly.

Jack is not only a musician, he’s also appeared in several films as well. His first role was in a 1987 movie called The Rosary Murders where he played an alter boy. During this time, Jack was actually considering joining the priesthood but instead decided to evolve his musical talents instead. Other movies that include Jack are Mutant Swinger from Mars, Cold Mountain, Coffee and Cigarettes, The Fearless Freaks, Walk Hard, Shine a Light, and It Might Get Loud.

The future is bright for this talented performer and artist. His diverse musical talents and recording experience have lead this artist to stardom. He continues to influence an army of guitar playing rockers around the world and has helped other bands along the way as well. He’s worked with artists like Loretta Lynn, Alicia Keys, Soledad Brothers, the Muldoon's, Whirlwind Heat, the Von Bondies, Rachelle Garniez, Dan Sartain, Transit and Mildred and The Mice performing on some tracks and producing on others.

With such a diverse set of creative skills Jack White III continues to impress, no matter what the name of his current band is. He will continue to create awesome works of musical genius. We can only wait to see what’s next for this talented performer and producer.