I’ve tried to not just list songs but also give a little history about them when I could. Some of my favorites are not necessarily performed by the original artists.

I  hope you find and gain a new passion for listening to the roots of the blues through The Audio Museum’s Top 15 Best Blues Songs of All Time as much or more than hearing  the newer polished material that we experience today. Either way when it’s good, it’s good. And that will never change.

Alright alright alright! We have a winner coming in at number fourteen. Hitting it big and old school here at The Audio Museum is a little gem written by Booker T. Washington (Bukka White)  sometime between 1930-1940. It was brought back to life in 1995 by an outstanding young guitarist named Kenny Wayne Shepherd who shortened it’s name and simply called it…Aberdeen.

14. Aberdeen Mississippi Blues

~ Booker T. White

Wiki:

Booker T. Washington “Bukka” White (November 12, 1909 – February 26, 1977) was an American Delta blues guitarist and singer. “Bukka” is a phonetic spelling of White’s first name, though he preferred “Booker.”

Born south of Houston, Mississippi, White was a first cousin of B.B. King’s mother (White’s mother and King’s grandmother were sisters). White himself is remembered as a player of National resonator guitars. He also played, but was less adept at, the piano.

For more about Booker T. go here.

 ~ Kenny Wayne Shepherd – Aberdeen

Wiki:

Shepherd was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. He graduated Caddo Magnet High School in Shreveport. The guitarist is “completely self-taught”, and does not read music. Growing up, Shepherd’s father (Ken Shepherd) was a local radio personality and some-time concert promoter, and had a vast collection of music. Shepherd got his first “guitar” at the age of three or four, when his grandmother purchased a series of several plastic guitars for him with S&H Green Stamps, which Shepherd has said he would “go through like candy”.

I highly recommend reading more about KWS here.

~Lyrics

I was over in Aberdeen
On my way to New Orlean
I was over in Aberdeen
On my way to New Orlean
Them Aberdeen women told me
Will buy my gasoline

Hey, two little women
That I ain’t ever seen
They has two little women
That I ain’t never seen
These two little women
Just from New Orlean

Ooh, sittin’ down in Aberdeen
With New Orlean on my mind
I’m sittin’ down in Aberdeen
With New Orlean on my mind
Well, I believe them Aberdeen women
Gonna make me lose my mind, yeah

(slide guitar & washboard)

Aber-deen is my home
But the mens don’t want me around
Aberdeen is my home
But the men don’t want me around
They know I will take these women
An take them outta town

Listen, you Aberdeen women
You know I ain’t got no dime
Oh-oh listen you women
You know’d I ain’t got no dime
They been had the po’ boy
All up and down.