While it seems like every website and magazine has put together one of these lists of "greatest guitarists" as of late, odds are that you've never seen a compilation of string-benders quite like that recently assembled by the editorial staff of Spin Magazine. Admittedly, "Spin's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" features few blues guitarists - Shuggie Otis at #61 and Jack White at #33 is about as close as you'll get, unless you want to include free-jazz shredder James Blood Ulmer at #36 (Ulmer, at least, has recorded a blues album or two).

Instead, Spin editors like the too-precious Christopher Weingarten have chosen to eschew the typical blues-oriented focus of most "top guitarists" lists in favor of a sort of "alternative" line-up that leans heavily towards heavy metal and indie-rock instrumentalists. Weingarten, in particular, muddies the waters by including two artists - Run DMC's Jam Master Jay and electronic-dance star Skrillex - that don't even play the guitar...making one wonder if this entire effort isn't some sort of parody of a "greatest guitarists" list. But with no Robert Johnson, Eric Clapton, Duane Allman, or Stevie Ray Vaughan on their list, it's hard to take Spin's recommendations seriously.

In honor of Spin's efforts, the Reverend has come up with a poll for you loyal readers that we believe trumps that publication's efforts at cloying hipness. We'll show them who knows and appreciates little-known six string talents! We submit that any of these guitarists would cut the head off any of the names on their list. Vote for your favorites below.

Brownie McGhee photo courtesy Blue Rock'It Records

It's no secret to long-time blues fans that the late John Lee Hooker was a spellbinding performer who could hold an audience in the palm of his hand. On a hot July day in 1974, Hooker was one of the headliners at an all-day festival called "Down In The Dumps" that was held in a former landfill in Gardner, Massachusetts. The event was attended by 6,000 blues fans and, by chance, Hooker's dynamic performance was caught on a three-camera shoot and later broadcast on cable TV.

On June 19, 2012 Hooker's long-lost festival appearance on that day in Massachusetts will be released on DVD by our friends at MVD Entertainment. Titled Cook With The Hook: Live 1974, the six-song, 45-minute performance includes such Hooker favorites as "It Serves You Right To Suffer," "Boom Boom," "Sweet Sweet Thing," and "Whiskey & Woman," among other songs.

John Lee Hooker began his career in the 1940s, and began recording in 1948, his "Boogie Chillen" becoming an overnight hit. That song would be followed by a string of successful singles throughout the late 1940s and well into the 1950s, including songs like "I'm In The Mood" and "Crawling Kingsnake." Paid by the song, during this era Hooker would record dozens of sides under a variety of names for a number of labels.

Hooker's career was still swinging in the 1960s and '70s, the bluesman touring and recording prolifically during the two decades. In 1974, at the time that Cook With The Hook was taped, Hooker was still at the peak of his performance skills. He didn't slow down during the 1980s and '90s, either - Hooker's 1989 album The Healer would sell over a million copies and earn the bluesman a Grammy® Award, and subsequent releases would cement his status as one of the great artists of the blues. Hooker would be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.

Related content:
John Lee Hooker - Don't Look Back CD review
John Lee Hooker - 50 Years: The John Lee Hooker Anthology CD review

Photo courtesy MVD Entertainment

A memorial celebration has been scheduled in honor of late blues guitarist Michael "Iron Man" Burks, who passed away last week of an apparent heart attack. The memorial and musical celebration of Burks' life will be held on Sunday, May 20, 2012 at Riverwoods On The Ouachita, on Bradley Ferry Road in Burks' hometown of Camden, Arkansas.

The event is open to the public, and kicks off - rain or shine - at 3:00 PM CST; guests are encouraged to bring instruments, lawn chairs, and coolers. Instead of sending flowers, the guitarist's family has asked that donations be made in Burks' name to The Blues Foundation's HART Fund, which helps out blues musicians with health care needs.

Burks was raised in a musical family, and first picked up a guitar at the age of two; by the age of five, he was learning to play songs from his father's record collection. By his early teens, Burks was fronting his own band as well as backing many of the blues and R&B talents that performed at his family's nightclub. After a lengthy hiatus from music as Burks raised his own family, he began performing again in the early 1990s, eventually signing with Alligator Records, which released three critically-acclaimed albums by the talented guitarist.

Burks earned his "Iron Man" nickname by delivering hours-long, physically-demanding performances night after night, his soulful vocals matched by a fierce, unique guitar style that would leave audiences breathless. A charismatic performer, nobody left a Michael Burks show without a smile on their face, and the artist would climb behind the wheel of his van and drive hundreds of miles to his next show. A blue-collar bluesman with immense six-string skills and a growing confidence in his songwriting ability, Burks was the living, breathing, touring embodiment of the blues, and will be missed...

Photo courtesy Alligator Records

OK, so our blog headline this week is a pretty bad pun, but as the Billboard magazine blues charts for the week ending May 19, 2012 proves, the Tedeschi Trucks Band is still holding strong. The band's Grammy® Award-winning Revelator album sits at number seven, its lowest position (I think) in the year it's spent dominating the chart, while the upcoming, yet-to-be-released live album moves up a spot to number six on the strength of pre-release sales. I thoroughly expect it to hit number one at the end of May when it actually hits store shelves.

Otherwise, there's not much happening on this week's chart. Tab Benoit's career-spanning Legacy collection drops out of the top ten, displaced by Beverly McClellan's on-and-off-the-charts album Fear Nothing. With Benoit winning multiple Blues Music Awards this week, including the huge "B.B. King Entertainer of the Year" award, I expect Legacy to bounce back up the chart. Ditto for Revelator, considering that Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks also walked away with Blues Music Awards last Thursday night...

Here are this week's Billboard Top Ten blues albums, ranked by sales:

10. Beverly McClellan - Fear Nothing (Oarfin Records)
9. Wynton Marsalis & Eric Clapton - Play The Blues (Warner Brothers)
8. Hugh Laurie - Let Them Talk (Warner Brothers)
7. Tedeschi Trucks Band - Revelator (Sony Masterworks)
6. Tedeschi Trucks Band - Everybody's Talking (Live) (Sony Legacy)
5. Various Artists - Back In New Orleans (Starbucks)
4. Walter Trout - Blues For The Modern Daze (Provogue Records)
3. Gary Clark, Jr. - The Bright Lights EP (Warner Brothers)
2. Dr. John - Locked Down (Nonesuch Records)
1. Bonnie Raitt - Slipstream (Redwing Records)

New releases this week: The Mannish Boys' Double Dynamite (Delta Groove); Paul Butterfield's Better Days/It All Comes Back (Edsel Records); The Nighthawks' Damn Good Time! (Severn Records)

Photo of the Mannish Boys' Double Dynamite courtesy Delta Groove Music