We wish this was a category with fierce competition, thanks to a Dallas scene loaded with a rich tapestry of blues hands who've lived through thunder and fire, surviving to tell their tales in raspy, hard-nosed song. But this isn't Mississippi, so we'll settle for at least one club getting it right, and the booking and atmosphere at Deep Ellum Blues has yet to be beaten by the rest of the blue-eyed soulsters around town. When the busiest bluesman in Dallas, Hash Brown, isn't holding court for his Thursday night residency, the best players from Dallas, Austin and all over the South make the best of the worst, including utter badasses such as Watermelon Slim and Andrew "Jr. Boy" Jones.