Top 50 Blues Albums for 2018

BLUES IS ALIVE album cover


  1. Buddy Guy, The Blues Is Alive and Well, Silvertone/RCA
  2. Nick Moss Band, The High Cost of Low Living, Alligator
  3. Marcia Ball, Shine Bright, Alligator
  4. Shemekia Copeland, America’s Child, Alligator
  5. Curtis Salgado & Alan Hager, Rough Cut, Alligator
  6. Victor Wainwright, Victor Wainwright and the Train, Ruf
  7. Sue Foley, The Ice Queen, Stony Plain
  8. Bernard Allison, Let It Go, Ruf
  9. Janiva Magness, Love Is an Army, Blue Élan
  10. Tinsley Ellis, Winning Hand, Alligator
  11. Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio, Something Smells Funky ’Round Here, Alligator
  12. Danielle Nicole, Cry No More, Concord
  13. Mud Morganfield, They Call Me Mud, Severn
  14. Kid Ramos, Old School, Rip Cat
  15. Rockwell Avenue Blues Band, Back to Chicago, Delmark
  16. Anthony Geraci, Why Did You Have to Go, Shining Stone
  17. Bob Corritore & Friends, Don’t Let the Devil Ride, SWMAF/VizzTone
  18. James Harman, fineprint, Electro-Fi
  19. Boz Scaggs, Out of the Blues, Concord
  20. Mike Zito, First Class Life, Ruf
  21. John Mayall, Three for the Road, Forty Below
  22. Frank Bey, Back in Business, Nola Blue
  23. Johnny Tucker, Seven Day Blues, Highjohn
  24. Lindsay Beaver, Tough As Love, Alligator
  25. Joe Louis Walker, Bruce Katz and Giles Robson, Journeys to the Heart of the Blues, Alligator
  26. Lurrie Bell & The Bell Dynasty, Tribute to Carey Bell, Delmark
  27. Colin James, Miles to Go, Stony Plain
  28. Various Artists, Chicago Plays the Stones, Raisin’ Music
  29. Mark Hummel, Harpbreaker, Electro-Fi
  30. Tom Hambridge, The NOLA Sessions, Superstar
  31. Rory Block, A Woman’s Soul: Tribute to Bessie Smith, Stony Plain
  32. Trudy Lynn, Blues Keep Knockin’, Connor Ray
  33. Teresa James & The Rhythm Tramps, Here in Babylon, Jesi-Lu
  34. Billy F Gibbons, The Big Bad Blues, Concord
  35. Fiona Boyes, Voodoo in the Shadows, Reference Recordings
  36. Reverend Raven & The Chain Smokin’ Altar Boys, My Life, Nevermore
  37. Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite, No Mercy in This Land, ANTI-
  38. Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne, Inspired By the Blues, IDLA/Stony Plain
  39. Various Artists, Tribute: Delmark’s 65th Anniversary, Delmark
  40. Big Harp George, Uptown Cool, Blues Mountain
  41. Eugene Hideaway Bridges, Live in Tallahassee, Armadillo
  42. JP Soars, Southbound I-95, Soars High
  43. Bruce Katz, Get Your Groove!, American Showplace
  44. Samantha Fish, Belle of the West, Ruf
  45. Deb Ryder, Enjoy the Ride, VizzTone
  46. Vanessa Collier, Honey Up, Phenix Fire
  47. Damon Fowler, The Whiskey Bayou Session, Whiskey Bayou
  48. Breezy Rodio, Sometimes the Blues Got Me, Delmark
  49. Joyann Parker, Hard to Love, Hopeless Romantics
  50. Kirk Fletcher, Hold On, KF