You take that Bach!

I couldn’t skip James!

Seriously, with Skip James, he has to be on my list because he totally hits the spot. There’s plenty of justification from cultural relevance, too. If my goal was to be well rounded with representations from genres I probably would have left both James and Son House off and included Leadbelly and Bach. But both Son House and Skip James punch me in the ****ing face. The punching me in the ****ing face factor trumps all else.

Son House is my GOAT bluesman so he'd be on my list too. Skip James is just a little further down the list for me even though he is singular in his own way with his darker sounding songs.

Thanks.

I know it was an awkward comment but I did ask myself if I had a cultural bias favoring men. Sarah Vaughn, Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone... On reflection they didn’t make the cut. Nina Simone definitely passes the punches me in the ****ing face taste, though. But like Bach there’s no one I was willing to deny to make room. You’re probably like, where are The Fall.

It’s top 40 and Mozart didn’t make the cut.

Ikue Mori, Zeena Parkins, Eliane Radigue, Diamanda Galas, Sainkho Namtchylak, Carla Kihlstedt, Joelle Leandre, Dagmar Krause, Tyva Kyzy, Evelyn Glennie, Lotte Anker, Junko, Sidsel Endresen, Josephine Foster, Miya Masaoka, Lindsay Cooper, Sylvie Courvoisier, Mary Halvorson...

Not all top 40 material, but some contenders...

That’s a great list. To add one more: Marilyn Crispell.

Imo, the strongest case could made for Eliane Radigue.

**** yeah to both.

Also: Shame on Frown for suggesting to keep Skip James off. He's better than Son House and Robert Johnson and possibly the best overall early bluesman.

And Sainkho.

He sure is pretty great, but those two are just gooder. It's only them and Charley Patton above him as far as delta bluesmen go, though.

That’s a good one.