This American-born singer-guitarist was a working bluesman in the late Sixties. With better luck, he might have been a revival star like John Hammond or Taj Mahal. Instead, Seasick Steve (real name Steven Wold) has won recent acclaim in the U.K. without easing up on his Delta-purist vigor. His first U.S. album has the fun and fury of his gigs, plus bass and mandolin work by Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones, a notable seal of approval. There's gratitude, too, in "Days Gone" and the ballad "It's a Long Long Way," the sound of a man who knows his fortune came just in time.

Listen to "You Can't Teach an Old Dog New Tricks":

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“Everyday People”

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.