Blues tributes are too often dire affairs—note-for-note reworkings of timeworn ideas and riffs that betray an almost puritanical obsession with “authenticity.” That approach, of course, dishonors the spirit of the music it purports to celebrate—Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and Elmore James, all of whom attract frequent tributes, weren’t purists or revivalists but instead radically reimagined […]
Tag: The Sons of Blues
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Harmonica master Billy Branch celebrates 40 years leading the Sons of Blues
As a bandleader and an educator, harmonica master Billy Branch links blues tradition to the genre’s evolving future.