Chicago Blues Festival
 "It's About Time"
Grant Park, Downtown
June 10 to 13
More summer festivals »

35 YEARS LATER
 The stars aligned in '69 to bring the blues 'Back Home.'

DAY 1
 Searching for the heart of the blues in the Mississippi Delta.

DAY 2
 Reeling in the Year of the Blues, Plus One: Was it all smoke and mirrors?

DAY 3
 Be it ever so humble, Chicago is still a sweet home for the blues on any given night.

DAY 4
 Blues artists and labels reach out and grab for the vanishing long green.

DAY 5
 Future hues of the blues: Meet the artists of the next generation.

Part 5: The blues had a baby
A younger generation of musicians still gets the blues these days, but as cross-cultural influences muddy the waters, will it still have the same impact?

Otis Taylor

Series by
Jeff Johnson Staff Reporter

The blues highway is undoubtedly going to be a bumpy road for several years, as the biggest stars fade out and a diminishing marketplace weeds out the less committed newer artists. But there’s a wealth and diversity of young talent waiting to fill the void.

The folk-blues boom that transported the blues from buckets-of-blood urban and Southern clubs to college campuses and huge festivals in the 1960s shows signs of a revival. Artists such as Otis Taylor, Corey Harris, Guy Davis, Rory Block and Alvin Youngblood Hart are respectful of traditional country blues traditions, while building on the African-American narrative heritage.

Continue »


A few views of future blues
Well-grounded in storytelling traditions and the work of the old blues masters, today's artists are staying open to new influences as well as old styles as they seek new audiences and find ways to make the music their own.

Rack up a real find for collectors
It seems that some of you have been, um, borrowing the handsome "Damn Right We've Got the Blues" promotional cards from Sun-Times newspaper boxes.

Reader Reactions
As the five-day "Blues at the Crossroads" series concludes today, readers react with the same passion and enthusiasm they hold for Chicago's most identifiable music form.


About This Series
Jeff Johnson, who has chronicled Chicago's vibrant blues scene for the Sun-Times since the 1980s, explores the state of the blues in this five-part series. Johnson, the 2004 Keeping the Blues Alive winner for journalism from the Memphis, Tenn.-based Blues Foundation, talks with many of those who perform, record and stage this lively music.






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