Blues Masters: The Very Best of T-Bone Walker

In his prime, circa 1945-1965, Texas-born T-Bone Walker was the Elvis Presley and the Jimi Hendrix of electric blues. Aaron Thibeault Walker rose to fame out of Dallas, Houston, L.A., and Chicago, and became a national star in the pre-TV era. T-Bone was an early and highly innovative electric guitarist (famed for single-note solos and horn-like chording), an excellent songwriter, a powerful singer, a prolific record-maker, and an acrobatic showman (he'd do splits while playing his big Gibson hollow-body behind his head, or pick the strings with his teeth--sound similar to a '60s-era rock guitar god we all know and love?). After his wild sets, the stages would be littered with jewelry, cash, and panties. No wonder cats like B.B. King, Mike Bloomfield, Albert King, Eric Clapton, Duane Allman, Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Robert Cray worshipped at T-Bone's altar, even after Walker's death in 1975. Now every day's a "stormy Monday" with the most complete single-disc "best of" devoted to the man. Breaking loose with 16 tracks released by the Black & White/Capitol, Comet, Imperial, and Atlantic labels between 1945-1960 and featuring Billy Vera-penned liner notes, The Very Best of T-Bone Walker serves as the virtual blueprint of modern electric blues guitar.