The blues continues to live in the hearts, minds, and souls of those of us who love the genre in it's purest expression. In that sense and in that place, the blues will remain and never die!
 

YES JUDY !!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for your words. I wish everyone had the Soul that you do
 

Jimmy Lloyd our main man, hope you are well.
This is a question that is often asked. I come into contact with hundreds of blues harp players, all have a different direction with what type of band they play in, what sound they want to produce and how they wished to be perceived by others. These people are all shapes, colors and sizes. In tutoring I try to find what’s inside them and get it out without going into to much detail on what is claimed to be right or wrong. This works for just about everyone. I’m sure Little Walter didn’t go into a music store when he started to play and ask for a Green Bullit mic and a Fender valve amp because he knew his harp would sound just like he wanted through this equipment. The Genre of blues was crafted on the highway by people who were so rejected and repressed the sadness of their lives became reflected in their music and spilled out of churches all over the deep south. This added to the natural instinct of the African beat luckily developed into blues of the 1920s to 40s. This has been carried by future generations and crafted into many forms of RnB, Rock and soul music’s of modern times. Did Presley develop from Gospel blues, you bet. Did Hendrix make something new with it, oh yes. Did Chuck Berry and Little Richard take it somewhere the planet would never recover from, absolutely. Even country music from around the planet has direct links to the blues roots of the past. Rich men in glass houses had problems controlling blues rock musicians because they always had strong ideas on where it should be going and would not be manipulated. The rich men in glass houses invented Pop music with more emphasis on the character than the music forcing blues rock and soul underground from where it still raises its head much to their annoyance. Gospel blues music gave us all this so my perception is that it is bigger than ever and no one will ever stop it. It is often referred to by the classical establishment as primitive music, born of a culture and not an education. If this is so then you and I are lucky to be blessed with the gift. Mozart wrote and played his works from 1756 to 1791 in massive halls and palaces. Robert Johnson developed his in the 1920s to 1940s along side cotton fields, pea farms, all night bars and church congregations. The Oxford dictionary defines primitive as; Not derived from something else; primary or basic. If this is so, which of these genres of music is primitive and why does blues derived music dominate the western world.
Have a great day Jimmy,
Cheers from Brian.
 

please excuse my ignorance ( bearing in mind I live in Scotland ) but I was brought up to believe that the Blues was the working class folks music from the South of the USA. I may be wrong but this stuff people are putting out nowadays mostly sounds to me like an attempt to jump on a bandwagon by using a name to grandify what is basically POP music for the Kids, Hey I wont knock it but I just dont like it. Maybe we dont have to shout about the blues just enjoy it and after all its lasted for a long time, how many years did punk, grunge etc last before they werent fashionable to the masses. Give me a good Bluesman and a bottle of Bourbon anytime. Sorry for the rant but I love my music
 

Goin' Down Slow, Don't Let My Baby Ride, Good Mornin' Little School Girl, Juke, Frosty, Thrill Is Gone, Last Two Dollars, Just Want To Make Love To You, Cheaper To Keep Her, Nightlife, You Upset Me Baby, Brick, Killing Floor, Sittin On Top Of the world, Kidney Stew, St Louis Blues, Fannie Mae, Got My Mojo Workin, San-Ho-Zay, Chicken Shack, Shade Tree Mechanic, One Bourbon One Scotch And one Beer, Little By Little, Big Boss Man, Vicksburg Blues, My Babe, The Twelve Year Old Boy, Wham, Evil, Part Time Love, Hellhound On My Trail, Love Light, I Wouldn't Treat A Dog, Night Fishin', The Smaller The Club The Bigger The Party, Down Home Blues, She's Into Something, Nineteen Years Old, Three Times A Fool


Blues music nowdays...when you hear it, the hair stands up on the back of your neck, same as always. Otis, B.B., John Lee, Freddie, Albert, Albert, Luther, T-Bone, Junior, Muddy, Wolf. I don't need anybody else to define it for me song by song or show by show or lick by lick, and I don't need the blues police ticketing me for what I just played, either. You're gonna be playing that bass till your fingers can't push the strings any more, same as me, and I don't give a shit about the posers and wanna be's. Whoever wants to listen, can; if we do our job good maybe they'll like it. I never heard Jimmy Lloyd sham, and I'm sure I never will.
 

Thanks Rob !!!!!!!! Yeah I will keep playing till I can no longer play.

There are a lot of great Blues folks out in the world today---------------- but they are finding it very tough to keep a true American art form alive. Issac Hayes at the WFBF ? Come on man give me a break. Can't work that festival anymore unless you are a close friend with the guy that books it, or are playing in his band, because he and his "A" Team work it every year.

Man all I am saying is put the Blues back in the Blues

Play that bass Rob !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You're a good man.
 

Well Jimmy what can I say.

I do know what you mean. but I have to put in the British Blues thing here.

One bluesman once said 'You have to take blues from where you found it and take it somewhere else'. We did that in the mid 60's (earlier if you look at British blues bands like John Mayalls Bluesbreakers, The Grayham Bond Organisation, Alexis Korners Blues Incorporated, Steampacket etc.

My band play blues based music. B.B.King sang 'The Blues had a baby and they called it rock and roll'. Without the very great blues pedigree there would be no Soul, R&B, Pop, Heavy Metal, Punk etc.

Even British promotors say that they don't like Blues and yet cite ZZ Top as their fav band.

In the UK if you say you play Blues you wont work, but say rock/blues or just plain rock and you will.

However, Rap, Hip Hop stuff has only the smallest input from the blues.

In the UK you see 'proper' blues bands playing at folk festivals mostly. But the good news is that Bikers love blues if, like you and I, it is played in an 'in your face' kinda way.

The greatest thing is that you appriciate what I'm trying to do over here and I appreciate what your doing over there and together we can make it happen.
 

You be the man Mick !!!!!!!!!! I hear Heart , Soul , and Fire in everything you do. Your center of music is Blues . It is the real Soul food my friend

Keep doing what you are doing----------- it is GOOD.
 

Good question, but a difficult one to answer. As far as I'm concerned Lightnin' Hopkins is God- he's one of the two grandaddies of Texas Blues (the other being T-Bone) and you can hear a lot of him in my playing, especially when I'm doing an E shuffle or Texas boogie. But Lightnin' and I live in different historical time periods and therefore have vastly different experiences. I never picked cotton or worked on the chain gang and he never owned a computer or a cell phone or had to think about global warming. He also grew up hearing different sounds than I did.

So while Lightnin' is the backbone of my style I would be doing a dishonor to him and myself if I simply tried to recreate what he did. Any art form must evolve and stay relevant if it's to continue and thrive. This is what Muddy and them did when they went electric, they made it relevant to the times they lived in. Folks nowadays grew up with Rock, Soul, et al... so it's only natural that they have those influences. On the other hand EVERY musician should do his/her homework and know who wote the book and where it all came from. Sadly few do anymore. And these are the times WE live in, trying to balance tradition with an ever cganging world. Are we up for the challenge? I like to think we are. We're the new trailblazers at the beginning of the 21st Century.
 

Thanks JJ !!!!!!!!!

I know that you understand what it is all about and where it all came from. Let's just hope that the younger generation starts getting it too.

Keep in touch my friend.
 

Hey Jimmy

Sadly the blues dosnt command the attention it once did, and younger listeners today dont appreciate the **traditional Blues** Im not saying all.. but on a par its certainly going that way. There are lots of awesome artists out there, and who all blues it up but sure have their own twists to it... on another note many veteren bluesers have been bitterly disappointed that so many popular artists have become rich and famous over the years by copying the sound of the african american blues artists, most who were struggling to survive. Thats been happing for awhile and alot of bands that weve come to love have all done that... hence again adding their style to the blues.. and breaking away to the *tradional blues*

Blues is definatly blues, and we need artists like yourself out there playing the real deal blues, supporting the fests, and each other. I still believe it all comes from your heart and soul and shines on through your playing, live, sizzling on the edge blues. **The rawer the better**

Keeping it bluesy
Kris :)
 

THANKS KRIS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU ARE INDEED THE REAL DEAL BLUES MOMMA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

At the bottom of my last post it should read *breaking away from the tradional blues* not to the tradional blues.. wheres the edit on here???? lol
 

Blues is the music of the soul. And strictly speaking it is music played within the style established by the black artists who emerged with songs of the slaves working the fields and the consequences of their lives.

I can enjoy Funk, Soul, R&B, Rock, etc. and recognize the Blues influence. But Blues is the ability to express passion within the simple confines of the blues beat.

I will always enjoy the Bo Didley beat, but when I want Blues I can turn to the three Kings, or the almost forgotten Otis Rush, Hubert Sumlin and their many fine students such as me.

Jimmy, sorry I haven't been in touch for a fe weeks, been busy playing and recording. Hope all is well with you. And please, keep the grease in the groove.
 

What a question mate. Blues is different things to different folks I suppose and the more it travels the more it is going to be interpreted according to the awareness and life experience of the player. Unfortunately , somewhere along the way many people have missed the point and think it is all. about how fast you can play a loud guitar. Cock Rock is not Blues!!! OK.
I guess to qualify as a Blues musician it might be relevant to some degree if you first of all have lived them. It doesn't have to be 20 years of breaking rocks on a chain gang although it would certainly help. But to have been broken in some way, then pulled yourself back from the brink just far enough to be able to sing about it in a form we know as The Blues.
The Blues comes from a different place inside, from the broken heart, from the damaged soul. It is about shouting your defiance at the circumstances that brought you to your knees. To have the gift, as you do, of making people dance and rejoice while you sing about it is a rare gift mate- and you have it.
Anyone who has no scars is just a pretender. Fuck 'em- keep doing your thing man. It is the real deal.
 

My good friend Mick , you do understand what it is all about. Blues in it's true form is simple, honest , and very real

There are many great "Real Deal" Blues folks left in the world. It is very hard to hear them unless you know them or stumble across them somehow. What a shame.

The real deal stuff will float to the top again my man.

You and Harry keep playin' the Blues !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the comment.
 

So, the Waterfront Blues Festival this year had some noteably non-blues acts, and some of them were actually talented and entertaining. But if it was real blues you wanted to hear this year, Phillip Walker, Ruthie Foster, Junior Boy Jones, Sherman Robertson, and Arthur Adams, came from all over the USA to lay it down. Norman and Lloyd Jones, Mary Flower and Curtis and David Vest and Dave Stewart and newcomer Kevin Selfe came from across town and were all proud to play solid blues. Young kids from Kansas City calling themselves Trampled Underfoot were new to me, and they were absolutely killer. Joe Bonamassa played some flashy rock and roll that was somewhat blues-based. There were plenty more good acts to hear there, too. It sure wasn't an All-Blues festival, but it wasn't hard to find real blues, and it wasn't much of a hardship to skip the less intersting acts.