The Masters - The Blues - Best Live Albums

RtBE loves listening to new music and prides itself on keeping tabs on up and coming artists but in 2019 we are also going to have a monthly spotlight on legendary artists who we really love. We are calling this series The Masters. It will focus on the best albums, live records, transcendent shows and other odd ways we appreciate the artists and their contribution to music, culture and our formation.

For March The Masters focuses on The Blues.

Live music is the best thing out there. Being caught in the moment is religion. Palpable vibes of healing and energy are transmitted and shit...gets...real. For this month's focus, the feeling is really all there is behind a few notes. For a "simple" art form the blues is endless complex and in the live setting this is immediately obvious in the hands of these Masters.

Even more than the studio recordings which we highlighted, these albums seem to evoke the spirit of the heartache, pain, and simmering soul under the guitar strings, horn blasts and drum fills. Recording in seedy clubs, at concert halls, prisons and esteemed festivals, our choices run the gamut of locations and playing styles, but one thing they all have in common is the passion of the live performance.

Your list will probably look different, feel free to share thoughts in the comments below, but now on to the records.

As always, these lists are designed to start conversations, not end them.