The following are gritty, raw, and powerful blues. No gentle rolling here. No deep, meaningful lyrics this time that I'll pull out and expound on their therapeutic message as I do in the rest of my Rock Therapy blog. No peaceful, uplifting messages here. Just raw, bluesy goodness. Sometimes we need to get in touch with the harsh blues to fully get in tune with our happiness. Balance and peace in life come from both. Sometimes, we just need to hear music that speaks to the most raw, primal, hard-rocking parts of ourselves. And that, in and of itself, is sometimes all the Rock Therapy we need.

Here are three of my favorites that have either ball, chain or ball and chain in the title. Why "ball and chain"? Why not? Well, I've been driving around in the #ChalkBus listening to "Ball and Chain" by Janis Joplin and was really diggin' on it. It made me think of Jack White's "Ball and Biscuit" another gritty, bluesy song with "ball" in the title. So I figured "good things come in threes" so I needed another raw, gritty blues sone with "chain" in the title to round out the trio.

Ball and Chain
cover by Janis Joplin (originally a Big Mama Thornton tune)
The was when Janis was a member of Big Brother and the Holding Company.

Ball and Biscuit
The White Stripes
"I may be your third man, girl, but it's a fact that I'm the seventh son!" He later named his recording studio and label "Third Man Records."

Chain of Fools
Aretha Franklin

Bonus Cover: This cover by Isabel Tavares & Black Coffee Band offers a more gritty and less smooth version that really hits.