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Bobby Bland Two Steps from the Blues Mono 1st Press LP Duke DLP 74 I Pity the Fool #1 Hit Archival Sleeve Essential for any Collection. This record is fantastic Bobby changed the way you sing Blues
First pressing with purple and gold Duke labels.
Two Steps from the Blues is the debut album by , in 1961. It compiles five songs recorded between 1956 and 1960 and seven songs recorded in two sessions from August 3 to November 12, 1960. The sessions took place at  in Chicago, where Bland and his backing band moved after a series of successful singles and albums. The backing band was composed of Joe Scott and Melvin Jackson (trumpet), Pluma Davis (trombone), Robert Skinner and L. A. Hill (tenor saxophone), Rayfield Devers (baritone saxophone), Teddy Reynolds (piano), Clarence Holloman (guitar on some tracks, notably "I Don't Want No Woman," where Bobby Bland shouts, "Look out, Clarence!" in the middle of the guitar solo), Wayne Bennett (guitar on other tracks), Hamp Simmons (bass), and  (drums). Scott also served as an arranger.

The album was critically and commercially successful. It produced two singles, "" and "Don't Cry No More", which charted at number 1 and 2 on the , respectively. Two Steps from the Blues was ranked at number 217 on  magazine's list of the .

 listed the album on "50 Top Blues Albums Of The Past 50 Years" at number 5, the compiler of the list noting that ""Bland's outstanding voice, whether tough or tender, is set to Joe Scott's arrangements on 'I Pity The Fool', 'Cry, Cry, Cry' and other priceless tracks... Among the stellar sidemen are guitarists Clarence Holloman and Wayne Bennett", and Rolling Stone on  at number 217. The album was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame at the 1997 .

Robert Calvin Bland (born Robert Calvin Brooks; January 27, 1930 – June 23, 2013), known professionally as Bobby "Blue" Bland, was an American  singer.

Bland developed a sound that mixed  with the  and . He was described as "among the great storytellers of blues and soul music... [who] created tempestuous arias of love, betrayal and resignation, set against roiling, dramatic orchestrations, and left the listener drained but awed." He was sometimes referred to as the "Lion of the Blues" and as the "Sinatra of the Blues".