Blues Christmas Gift Guide

The year's best blues album would make for a great gift for any blues fan of your acquaintance. Produced by T-Bone Burnett and featuring a selection of classic blues tunes that inspired B.B. King in his early days, One Kind Favor showcases the notable blues guitarist's elegant tone and graceful performance skills. Need more reasons? Read the review!

If you or the blues fan in your life prefers their music a little more on the raucous, down-and-dirty side, then look no further than Buddy Guy's 2008 effort, Skin Deep. Serving up a mess of Guy's trademark electric-blues, Skin Deep also features guest appearances by artists like Eric Clapton, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, and others.

On the other hand, if you or your blues fan just discovered the talented Buddy Guy via Skin Deep, or one of the tireless blues legend's ubiquitous dynamic live performances this year, spend a little cash and delve deeper into the guitarist's enormous back catalog. Can't Quit The Blues is a three-CD/one-DVD box set that includes a disc of Guy's early 1950s and '60s tracks for labels like Delmark, Vanguard, and Chess Records along with two discs representing his post-1990, career-reviving albums for Silvertone Records. The DVD includes a 75-minute documentary and performances from the 1974 Montreux Jazz Festival.

For a taste of classic Chicago blues, look no further than Willie Dixon's The Chess Box two-disc set. Dixon's contributions to the blues as a singer and performer are often overlooked, and this box offers only around half-dozen tracks among its 36 that feature Dixon's pipes. No, Willie Dixon's importance was as a songwriter, producer, and session bass player, and his fingerprints are all over songs here by Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Koko Taylor, Bo Diddley, and many others.

This beautiful 240-page hardback book collects all of the illustrations from Robert Crumb's acclaimed "Heroes of the Blues," "Early Jazz Greats" and "Pioneers of Country Music" trading card sets between two covers. A labor of love for the infamous underground cartoonist and collector of antique music, Crumb's heartfelt portraits of his favorite blues, jazz, and country/hillbilly musicians are accompanied by text from writers Stephen Calt and David Jasen. The book includes a CD of "old time" music hand-picked by Crumb himself.

Writer Stephen Calt has penned two excellent volumes on blues legends, the first focused on Charley Patton, and this one on the mysterious Skip James. Calt's relationship with the reclusive blues legend ran better than half a decade and his profile of the troubled country blues troubadour is both informative and fascinating.

Every now and then Texas music legend Delbert McClinton gathers up a bunch of friends and fans and takes a cruise. Rocking the Boat documents one such seafaring party, with music from blues and roots-rock artists like Tommy Castro, Marcia Ball, and Rodney Crowell, as well as McClinton himself.

A gifted instrumentalist with a variety of styles at his disposal, Dave Specter is an unsung talent on the Chicago blues scene. Live In Chicago is an incredible display of Specter's talents as a guitarist, as a stylist, and as a bandleader. This is a good show, and well worth experiencing for any dedicated blues fan.

For the fledgling harp-blaster on your holiday gift list, this seven-pack of Hohner's Piedmont Blues harmonicas is a sweet deal. You get harps in the keys of G, A, Bb, C, D, E, and F (lowest to highest), with brass reeds, aluminum plates, and a plush-lined nylon carrying case. The recipient of this gift can learn to play in the style of Piedmont blues legend Sonny Terry or, with the included Bb harmonica, play cross-harp in the key of F like Chicago blues giant Little Walter.

A less-expensive version of Gibson's classic, the Epiphone B.B. King Lucille electric guitar was born to play the blues. Featuring two humbuckers with stereo Varitone controls, a laminated maple body and maple neck with rosewood fretboard, and gold hardware, this is a good-looking axe that will deliver your sound in style.