Holiday Presents You Can Buy for the Blues Musician

Music is a passion that many hold dear. The best thing to give any blues musician this season would be something that appeals directly to that musical passion. Here are a few suggestions that would hopefully brighten up the holidays for you and your blues lover alike.

While guitars make for very expensive presents (and it's a very personal purchase choice, too, something like what buying underwear is for most of us), guitar accessories are relatively inexpensive and will certainly add a sparkle to any musician's playing. A bluesman essential is, of course, the slide, which is predominantly used to play bottleneck guitar styles like the early bluesmen did. We don't use medicine bottles now like they did in the old days, but nothing can quite capture the old-world elegance and the warm, rich tone that those old Cordicin medicine bottles used to give out. For those who are nostalgic about the slides of old, the Real Bottlenecking Corporation (RBNC) offers a range of slides constructed in the dimensions of the old Cordicin bottles. They're sure to bring back the fat twangs of the blues songs you grew up with! They come in different measurements (for different finger sizes) and may come in regular or heavyweight (which contains an added layer of Pyrex on the bottle's wall which adds weight). The bottles are all hand-lathed from Pyrex and torched to make it break-resistant and durable, available in whimsical shades of blue, amber, red, or transparent. They lend that classic slide playing sound you'd find in the work of many blues legends, and they're sure to be a precious gift to any blues guitar player. ($9.99-14.99 at www.musiciansfriend.com or check your local Guitar Center outlet)

If you want something fancier or something that stands out from the piles of musical presents, try giving a Robert Johnson Legacy Bronze Slide. This special bronze slide is made by the Bigheart Slide Company, with the legendary bluesman's name engraved on it. It comes with its own leather pouch, and it's sure to be a hit with your friend. It's a very special present honoring the legacy of what many agree to be the father of the blues, and a very elegant present at that. ($21.99 at www.musiciansfriend.com or check your local Guitar Center outlet).

You can also choose to give a harmonica for the holidays. Beware of harmonica sets that come at suspiciously low prices because the price usually compensates the quality and these harmonicas aren't bound to last long. Your local Guitar Center must stock a wide selection of harmonicas at reasonable prices. A mid-priced harmonica would probably make a very good present for a beginner.

Of course, the gift of music is still the classic choice to give a musician. Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: A Musical Journey is a fantastic box set that includes five CDs compiling the best tracks from the many blues artists spanning the years, in effect giving a musical chronicle of the development and growth of the blues as an art form, starting from the earliest field hollers to acoustic bottleneck playing to modern electric blues. It's an excellent primer on blues essentials, covering the early purveyors like Charlie Patton and Lead Belly to lesser known artists and popular blues artists today like Bonnie Raitt and BB King. There's also a DVD by the same title, which is a collection of mini-documentaries by seven different directors chronicling the history of the blues. It's a good resource for those interested, given that the directors are all excellent, but at some parts it does get dragging. The DVD also costs twice the CD box set, and in my opinion, the CD set would make for a better present to a serious bluesman or just anyone who's interested in taking a foray into the world of blues.

If the price tag of Martin Scorses's box set is a tad bit too hefty, you can look into Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings. It's a 2-CD box set chronicling all the recordings of the blues legend, which were all performed only in two recording sessions. While the bluesman's life is often shrouded by myth and controversy, his genius is not. This collection of songs has often been called the Holy Grail of blues, and rightly so, having influenced many guitar greats like Keith Richards and Eric Clapton. Another fantastic find is the Crossroads Guitar Festival DVD. It's a 3-day guitar festival in Texas that offers up a sizzling palate of musical geniuses and blues guitar greats. BB King, Buddy Guy, Jimmie Vaughan, Robert Cray, and Eric Clapton treat the audience to multiple extended jams like never before. The musical offerings are as eclectic as Carlos Santana's flamenco-infused riffs to Hubert Sumlin's blues phrases, Steve Vai's raging rock solos to James Taylor's serene, country ballads. It's sure to be a treat not just for any blues lover, but for any music lover.