2 Answers

Willie Brown; Blind Dog Fulton; Smokehouse Brown

Crossroads is an awesome movie!

I don't think any one person could be considered the best, but if you put a gun to my head I would have to say B.B. King. The classic 12-bar blues is a specific harmonic form with a particular chordal progression albeit with variations. The 16-bar blues is also extant. B.B. King took this simple form and expanded its possibilities--limiting his exploration into other styles of music-- probably more than any one else. He has made tons of recordings and performed for decades and he is known all over the world. At the gut level, his lyrics are informed by the origins of black music, gospel and in essence, slavery, which is where blues came from. IMHO, of course.