Nine O'Clock Blues

Once upon a time there were three kings: B. B., Albert and Freddie. Most Blues fans know B. B. and Albert, but Freddie died too young to get the recognition he truly deserved.

Most of us tend to identify the Blues with the rural Deep South and urban centers like Chicago and Memphis. The powerful form of self expression we call the Blues has penetrated every corner of America and continues to spread around the World.

Most of us think of Muddy Waters as one of the all time legends of the Blues, the standard by which we judge Chicago Blues. There was a time in his career though that he had faded from being the “King Bee” we think of today.

What do you get when you mix Michigan with the Australian outback? You get Harper and Midwest Kind… and that equals some of the most distinctive music in the whole Blues world.

A few years ago I saw a 9 or 10-year-old wearing a T-shirt that read “Blues Ain’t Black or White.” That raises the question whether Champion Jack Dupree would have agreed.