Long strange trip, which is what you want for a blues dj....I come to the blues through bluesrock -- of the 60s and 70s -- and thus I like my blues music very well played (cf, The London Howlin Wolf Sessions)! Still, once I started diggin into the Founders' playing, I understood much better where the younger US and British players were coming from, especially how important the British rockers' contribution was to the development of this form of music, since most of America was asleep at the wheel as to what a treasure it is, but they were decidedly NOT, thank God. I made my buddies suffer during the summer of 68 as I played donkey-bray-sounding bluesharp until I finally started to get how to (mostly) hit the pretty notes. I also had some basic barrel-house piano blues (Key of C) down, thanks to a friend who played it slowly so I could see what it looked like. Then I heard Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull play that flute, and came to know about Herbie Mann and Hubert Laws and how they all could stir things up. In the last ten years I've been emerging from "beginnerhood" on guitar, and I now deeply love the great blues and rock and gospel vocalists and players who so enrich our lives. So I'm after those sweet sounds and swingin' grooves, wherever I can find 'em!
