Following Threads: Little Walter, "Mean Old World" (1952)

A short while back I made a big fuss here about a classic blues track covered during the 1970 Layla sessions but left off the original 1970 double album, Mean Old World. Originally recorded by T-Bone Walker in 1942, the version of Mean Old World recorded by Eric Clapton and Duane Allman during the Layla sessions is a based on blues harmonica virtuoso Little Walter's Chicago blues style version recorded in 1952. One of the reasons blues rockers looked to Little Walter for inspiration is that he was arguably "the first musician of any kind to purposely use electronic distortion."

Well, enough out of me -- check out the incomparable Little Walter in the clip above performing Mean Old World.