Revolving in the rock room today is a classic R & B single recorded and released in 1957. “Farther Up the Road,” is a seminal and influential blues number that has a long reaching influence and has since been covered by a multitude of artists.

The song was blues balladeer Bobby “Blue” Bland’s first chart topping single for Duke records b/w “Sometime Tomorrow.” The song was written by Joe Medwick Veasey who was a Texas based songwriter also believed to by the songwriter of cuts like “I Pity the Fool,” “Cry, Cry, Cry,” and “Turn On Your Lovelight,” among others. Veasey sold many of his compositions for cash losing the rights in the process.

He apparently sold them to Duke Records owner Don Robey who was known for his shady business practices and is listed as the primary songwriter for a large amount of the classic blues songs released on Duke Records and his other various labels.

Bland started singing gospel music in Tennessee as a youth. He didn’t play an instrument, but over time he began to cultivate the proper charisma and appeal of a front man. He moved to Memphis in the early 1950’s and recorded at sessions for Sam Phillips and Ike Turner. Following a spell in the military, Bland returned to his fledgling recording career and cut a series of influential hard blues sides for Duke Records highlighted by his first big single, “Farther On Up the Road.”

The song is an ebullient Texas shuffle that swings on moaning horns by the Bill Harvey Orchestra and high-octane guitar believed to be played by Pat Hare. While Bland’s primary guitarist was Wayne Bennett, Bland is on record saying that his horn arranger Joe Scott wanted Hare on the session. Pat Hare was a pioneer of the sound of rock and blues, playing with a serrated overdriven tone that foreshadowed the development of electric guitar. His 1954 Sun Record side “I’m Gonna Murder My Baby,” contains some of the filthiest riffing ever committed to tape.

“Farther Up the Road,” has brisk urban sheen, moving through a cruising double time intro, a set of verses and a silky middle eight. The drums clip clop and pop pulling against the greasy horn arrangement.  Bland vocally admonishes the subject of the song with the sensuality of a lover, while the guitar answers back in feigned bluesy sympathy.

Hare’s atmospheric riffing responds to each line of Bland’s verses in a dialog. Bland’s vocals are Kentucky bourbon, dark and smooth with a touch of heat. The mid-song guitar solo is hot asphalt, and its widespread influence is discernible through Hare’s seamless riffing.

The song is a tactile collaboration of blues, soul and charged Bobby Bland vocalizations, both sweet and tart. The musical combination a long lasting and influential signpost to a host of contemporary rock and blues artists. In a way its the perfect song. It’s message one of karma, a universal feeling with no expiration date, a warning that of you do me wrong, look out,  its coming back around.

While impossible to improve on Bland’s original recording; the track has remained essential featuring cover versions by a plethora of artists including but not limited to Levon and the Hawks, John Hammond, Lonnie Mack, Roy Buchanan, and has also featured prominently in Eric Clapton’s long performance history. Over time the song’s title morphed from “Farther Up the Road” to “Further On Up the Road,” but the intent remained the same, culminating in a definitive cover version with Clapton and the Band hailing from The Band’s final concert, 1976’s The Last Waltz.