Bland was an influence on many musicians

By age 17, Bland had moved to Memphis, where he sang with the groups the Miniatures and the Beale Streeters. He cut some singles with a little success before a hitch in the Army temporarily halted his progress. By 1955, Bland was recording for Duke Records, formerly a Memphis label that was purchased by Houston music mogul Don Robey. He had his first hit, “It’s My Life Baby,” in 1955.

At Duke, Bland’s career exploded, starting with the 1957 single “Father Up the Road,” which he recorded in Houston.

“That song shook me,” Johnny Winter told the Chronicle last year. Winter covered it last year on his “Roots” album. “It’s a powerful song, still one ofmy favorites.”

A string of influential recordings followed for Duke, many of them featuring Bland working with Joe Scott, a brilliant band leader, orchestrator and trumpeter from Texarkana. Scott played a crucial role in developing a signature sound for Robey’s Duke and Peacock labels built upon bracing blasts of brass and piercing and compact guitar parts. In addition to Scott, local players, such as keyboardist Teddy Reynolds, bassist Hamp Simmons and guitarist Clarence Holloman, frequently played on Bland’s recordings. Though the publishing credits didn’t always say so, several of Bland’s bestknown songs were written by Joe Medwick, a gifted writer in Robey’s employ.

Scott and these players figured prominently on “Two Steps From the Blues,” which was released in 1961. Robey had, to that time, largely found success with singles. But the 12 songs on “Two Steps”— including the title track penned by longtime Houston blues great “Texas” Johnny Brown— were assembled into a grand statement. While the blues are present, as advertised in the title, the album’s scope was broader. “Two Steps” had an inestimable influence on 1960s Southern soul— one of the great American musical traditions.

Dan Penn, the exceptional songwriter who co-wrote “The Dark End of the Street” and “Do Right Woman, Do RightMan” said years ago, “Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland was it for me. I loved his voice. I wanted so badly to sing like him.”

Bland’s voice and his control over it were remarkable. Not only could he sing blues, gospel and soul, he projected these types of music into a new whole. “I Pity the Fool” and “Cry Cry Cry” are just two self-contained examples of his vocal breadth. Bland begins both with a smoothly smoldering vocal. The songs’ early tensions proves to be a tinderbox. In so many of Bland’s songs, anguish is framed as a debt and tears are the currency. His was music of the wronged, and the responses could be defeated or vindictive. The dynamic quality of his singing didn’t just enhance the lyrics. Bland’s dramatic approach to singing could project a narrative, even without words.

“He was, simply put, the greatest blues singer— make that ‘singer period’ the world has ever known,” said ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons. “His performances and recordings were marked by the most tastefully innovative arrangements and orchestrations one could imagine, and he delivered his repertoire in a tastefully understated way. Bobby Bland didn’t need to be a show-off— he was the real thing— and he let his talent do the bragging for him.”

Between 1962 and 1964 Bland’s success expanded beyond the R&B charts when he put four singles on the pop charts, including “Turn on Your Love Light,” a song that has been performed or recorded by Van Morrison, the Grateful Dead, Johnny Rivers, the Allman Brothers Band and TomJones, among many others.

By the early 1970s, Duke/ Peacock was past its peak, and the label was sold. Bland’s first post-Duke record was “The California Album,” an underappreciated set of songs recorded partially at the Gold Star recording studio in Houston.

“In terms of recording history, he bridges the label’s move to California,” said Wood. “He was their key star during the peak years, and he was the last guy out the door when everything had to go.”

Bland continued to record frequently through the ’90s. He also toured regularly into his 80s, typically returning to Houston about once a year, often for blues festivals. “The response from the crowd when he would sing was amazing,” Wood said. “Even as he got older and less active, he still had absolute superstar status when he was on stage.”