10 Blues Rock Covers Better Than the Original

The genesis of blues rock occurred when Les Paul’s Gibson and Leo Fender’s solid-body electric guitars hit the market at the beginning of the 1950s. At the same time that Delta blues and Chicago blues artists like Muddy Waters and B.B. King began using electric guitars, rock & roll was born, augmenting the volume exponentially. By the next decade, young rock artists were reaching back into the first half of the 20th century for music to reinterpret through a then-current filter. Whether it was Eric Clapton turning Cream’s interpretation of Robert Johnson’s “Cross Road Blues” into a blues rock staple or Led Zeppelin’s transformation of Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie’s “When the Levee Breaks,” the latter often had more impact than the former. Here are ten blues rock covers that not only honored their source material, but in many listeners’ minds completely outshined the originals.

Allman Brothers – “Stormy Monday” 

T-Bone Walker recorded “Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just as Bad)” in 1947, and it was released as a single. It became what the Blues Foundation would recognize as one of the most influential records in blues history. His version was filled with jazz sophistication and delivered as a slow, sophisticated lament using elegant phrasing and vocal restraint.

The Allman Brothers Band recorded their performance of “Stormy Monday” at the Fillmore East in March 1971 and released the album in July. They transformed the two-and-a-half-minute original into a nearly nine-minute, slow-burning blues rock performance through improvisational brilliance, creating a classic interpretation of a timeless song.

Joe Bonamassa – “Sloe Gin”

“Sloe Gin” was written by Bob Ezrin, who worked with Alice Cooper and Pink Floyd, along with Michael Kamen. It was recorded by multi-talented actor and singer Tim Curry for his 1978 debut solo album, Read My Lips. Joe Bonamassa rescued it from obscurity when he not only covered it, but also titled his sixth studio album, released in 2007, Sloe Gin.

Tim Curry’s recording was a brooding, dark, and dramatic meditation on loneliness and emotional collapse. Joe Bonamassa transformed it into a signature, towering cinematic anthem with aching bends and sustained cries of stratospheric guitar peals that many consider one of the most emotionally expressive solos of his career.

Cream – “Crossroads”

“Crossroads” was Cream’s adaptation of Robert Johnson’s 1936 recording “Cross Road Blues.” Johnson’s version was a haunting, bare-bones acoustic song that reflected the frustration of a hitchhiker who had grown weary of waiting for a ride. According to legend, Johnson sold his soul to the devil at that crossroads to become a great guitarist.

Eric Clapton and Cream’s version of the song was recorded live for their album Wheels of Fire, which was recorded in 1967 and released in 1968. Their version is a blues rock powerhouse detonation that brought Delta blues into the modern era.

Cream – “Rolling and Tumbling”

“Rolling and Tumbling” was originally written and recorded by Hambone Willie Newbern in 1929. It is considered a classic, haunting slice of Delta slide guitar blues and has been re-recorded well over a hundred times by various artists over the past century, from Robert Johnson to The Rolling Stones.

Muddy Waters’ 1950 recording took the loose structure and weary heartbreak of Hambone Willie Newbern’s original and electrified it into a snarling groove with a more aggressive swagger. In 1966, during the British Invasion of America, the recently formed British blues rock band Cream released their debut album Fresh Cream. They recorded a version of “Rolling and Tumbling” that turned up the volume and intensity with amplified urgency, driven by Eric Clapton’s scorching slide guitar and the driving rhythm section of Ginger Baker on drums and Jack Bruce on bass guitar and vocals.

Rory Gallagher – “Bullfrog Blues” 

William Harris was a native of Mississippi who wrote and recorded “Bullfrog Blues” as a traditional acoustic country blues song in 1928. Harris’ recording was a charming, loose, good-humored acoustic finger-picking lament built on pre-World War II Southern wit.

Rory Gallagher electrified the obscure Delta blues relic into one of rock’s ultimate jam sessions, recording it live in 1972 for his album Live in Europe, which was released later that year. Gallagher’s version is explosive, featuring a blazing electric workout that redefined the song by injecting ferocious Stratocaster leads and stop-on-a-dime tempo shifts. It was a crowd pleaser from the beginning and became the second most-played song in his live performances over the years.

Jimi Hendrix – “All Along the Watchtower”

Bob Dylan’s album John Wesley Harding was released in 1967 and was his eighth studio album. It contained songs he worked on with his new band and marked a change in musical direction from the psychedelic rock of Blonde on Blonde to a more country blues-inspired sound. One of the most popular songs from the album was “All Along the Watchtower,” which was stark, cryptic, and semi-biblical in its approach.

Jimi Hendrix recorded his interpretation of “All Along the Watchtower” a few months later in 1968 for Electric Ladyland, the album he was recording at the time. Hendrix did more than merely turn up the volume; he detonated the song with spiraling lead guitar lines, thunderous rhythm, and an ominous sense of drama. He transformed Dylan’s country blues back into psychedelic blues rock and created a transcendent, apocalyptic sound that became one of his trademarks. It became Hendrix’s biggest American chart hit, and many people are not even aware that it was originally Dylan’s song.

Janis Joplin – “Ball and Chain”

Big Mama Thornton wrote “Ball and Chain” and recorded it in the early 1960s, but it was not released until 1968 on a compilation album. By that time, the song had been made famous by Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company, who performed it at the legendary Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. Joplin witnessed Thornton performing the song in a San Francisco bar and obtained permission from her to record it.

Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company transformed Thornton’s slow, commanding performance into a volcanic eruption that stretched the arrangement into a psychedelic blues epic filled with shrieking guitars and soul-ripping vocals.

Led Zeppelin – “When the Levee Breaks”

“When the Levee Breaks” was originally written and recorded by Memphis Minnie and her husband Kansas Joe McCoy in 1929. The song is a stark country blues response to the devastation of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.

Led Zeppelin reinterpreted the song, transforming it from rural despair into apocalyptic grandeur. Robert Plant’s echoing lament, along with Jimmy Page’s grinding guitar riff and John Bonham’s thunderous drum beat, created a slow, hypnotic, and impossibly heavy version.

Muddy Waters – “I Just Want to Make Love to You” 

“I Just Want to Make Love to You” was written by Willie Dixon and recorded by Muddy Waters and his band in 1954. It was released as a single by Chess Records the same year with a classic blues lineup featuring Little Walter on harmonica, Jimmy Rogers on guitar, Otis Spann on piano, Fred Below on drums, and Willie Dixon on bass. It was pure Chicago blues seduction that was lean and menacing, performed with a raw, slow-burning intensity and a vocal delivery built around suggestive lyrics.

Fourteen years later, in 1968, Muddy Waters recorded Electric Mud at the suggestion of Marshall Chess, son of Chess Records founder Leonard Chess. He convinced Muddy Waters that recording a psychedelic blues rock album was a way to reach a younger audience. The backing band was comprised of members of Rotary Connection, a psychedelic rock band from Chicago. The album pushed the song toward a Hendrix-like interpretation, executed as a thunderous blues rocker with fuzzed-out guitars and extended solos.

Johnny Winter – “Highway 61 Revisited”

Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited” is the title track of his sixth studio album, Highway 61 Revisited, which was released in 1965 after he began using an electric guitar and helped create the folk rock genre. Highway 61 itself is considered the escape route for people leaving the Deep South for Northern cities like St. Louis and Chicago, as it follows the Mississippi River for 1,400 miles from New Orleans, Louisiana, to Duluth, Minnesota, the birthplace of Robert Zimmerman.

Dylan’s version was a snarling, surreal slice of electric folk blues rock dripping with biting satire, delivered through wild beatnik poetic imagery inspired by the biblical story of Abraham from Genesis Chapter 22. In 1969, Johnny Winter transformed “Highway 61 Revisited” from a counterculture commentary into a full-throttle Texas blues rock assault. Winter’s searing slide guitar and manic performance turned Dylan’s poetic imagery into a barroom brawl.