5 Songs to Get You Through the Week #45

5 Songs to Get You Through the Week is a feature I run on Young Ears, Fresh Perspective on Sundays/early hours of Monday morning where I pick out 5 tunes that I think are notable and tell you a bit about them. The point is to give you some rocking music to help you deal with your weekday blues. You can either listen to one each day, listen to them all at once, or any other combination that you feel. As long as you can get through the week without the man getting you down, that's all I care about. Without further ado, here are the 5 tracks I've picked out for this week:

1. I Wonder Who, by Rory Gallagher

In this live interpretation of a Muddy Waters song, Irish blues man Rory Gallagher rips out some of his finest licks while laying down a chill bluesy jam at the same time. The way it fluctuates between volume levels is pretty swell too. The entire Irish Tour '74 album is a fantastic live blues album if that's what you're into. It's got something for every kind of fan of the genre to dig.

2. Do the Rump, by The Black Keys

I bet many of you don't remember when The Black Keys were a pure bluesy garage rock band, do you? This tune (which is a cover of a Junior Kimborough tune) from their first album The Big Come Up is a prime example of the raw dirty nature of their early music. They have definitely changed a lot over the years. I'm happy they are growing as musicians, but personally I'd love an old school Keys album some day again.

3. Outlaw Blues, by The White Stripes

This live cover of a Bob Dylan tune takes a song that already is driving and kicks it into overdrive. It is The White Stripes about as close to their pure blues roots as you will hear them, save maybe a small handful of other songs in their catalog. It's a great tune to jump all around to. Shame that we'll never hear them do it again (probably).

4. Blue Suede Shoes, by Black Sabbath

I bet you NEVER would have fathomed Black Sabbath cover Elvis Presley, would you? Before they became known for their big hits and were all doom and gloom, they were actually a blues band and did quite a few good covers; including this one of the Elvis classic Blue Suede Shoes. It kicks some serious ass and has some fantastic guitar work by Tony Iommi.

5. You Shook Me, by Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin's cover of this Muddy Waters classic is absolutely phenomenal. They took an already sweet jam and completely blasted it into outer space. The band really is in top form on this track and truly show off without shame their blues based roots. It really is kind of hard to do the blues any better than it's done in this track.