Is "the blues" alive?
When I first started this gig my first posting was Son House... my all-time favorite blues man telling us what the blues was. Then breaking into exactly that. It is a terrific video and it may never be surpassed. I love the blues. I have spent a good part of my life listening to the original blues, the "finding" of the blues in the 60's (by the Brits), the updating of the blues, the retro blues with the 50's sound, the half hearted attempt to meld rap with the blues, metal with the blues (how many notes can you fit in one bar)... and the stripping of the blues... which when done well is very satisfying. What I rarely see is something totally original. I mean really original. I love it when some hot musician take on an old blues song and makes it his own. Shit, I even like it when sometimes they do direct ripoffs of old blues guys. Lets face it. Most of us have never heard the originals so the update or ripoff is great. Now there are a number of musicians out there who...
