I wonder if there aren’t as many young black musicians devoting themselves to the blues. Do you worry about the future of blues music?
I worry about the future of blues music whether you are black or white. If they don’t hear it like I did and listen to it and don’t know about it — you ever been to Louisiana where they cook all this gumbo?
I have. I love it.
I do, too. [Laughs.] So if you never tasted it, you wouldn’t love it. That’s what’s happening with the blues. Now, the young people don’t know nothing about it unless — I know satellite [radio] do play blues, but we need more than that. I tell everybody I would love to hear Muddy Waters twice a week. I’m not telling you to play him all day, all night; just play him. Let the young people know where it all started.
For the younger people who don’t know much about the blues, what’s the case that you would make to go buy a Muddy Waters album as soon as they can?
If you don’t have the blues and don’t know about the blues, just keep livin’.
What do you mean by that?
[Laughs.] At least, you’re gonna see a better time or a worser time in life. Just listen to what I’m sayin’: Just keep livin’. Even if you get in the middle of the expressway and your car quit runnin’, you got blues.
Via NPR
