Blues Does Not Get the Respect It Deserves

In my previous blog I suggested that blues, as a musical genre, seems to periodically fall below the mainstream media radar. This week an e-mail from the Blues Foundation encouraged me to renew my membership. The Blues Foundation e-mail said that it is only 187 members away from reaching the 2010 goal of 4000 members, which would rise to 5000 members if everyone, whose membership expired during the last year, would renew it. These are small numbers. Does it reflect the economy or apathy? Or bad marketing?

Perhaps those numbers can be contrasted with the number of people that attended the Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival in Portland, Oregon on July 2-5 2010 - over 100,000 people showed up from every state as well as from other countries like Canada, England, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, France etc.... True, it promotes itself as the largest blues festival on the West Coast and the second largest one in the nation. The Arkansas Blues and Heritage Festival in Helena (originated in 1986) anticipates an attendance of about 80,000 for its upcoming 25th Anniversary. The membership numbers of the Blues Foundation pale in contrast to the popularity of these kind of events that take place all over the North American continent each summer. Please do an internet search for Blues Foundation - the lowest membership fee is only $25.00 - it really needs your support for all the wonderful things it does for the blues.

Just yesterday, I came across something that had been written by the "Blues for Life"blog, dated November 16, 2009. It is a "Dear John Mayer" letter which states "... the reason you bugged me ... is because you have created a cult where a bunch of people see you as a serious musician who just happened to take a shot at being a pop star because it was handed to you and then decided you would make a bid for seriousness on the side." Is this the fault of John Mayer or fans "out there" who would rather lick the high fructose corn syrup of Mayer's kind of sappy pop? Let's look at some stats, even though they were not collected in a rigid scientific manner.

I've jotted down the number of friends some "blues"& not quite so blues artists have on their MySpace websites. I've also compressed statements or questions that might explain the reasons behind the high or low numbers associated with each of them.

John Mayer - 511, 041 friends (popularity with the girls due to pop material?).
Eric Clapton - 292, 120 friends (popularity due to pop/reggae/ballad "hits"?).
Jonny Lang - 60, 424 friends. (has recently tried to go mainstream in musical style).
Carlos Santana - 60, 070 friends (weird considering the "hits").
Taylor Hicks - 52, 410 friends (American Idol alumni? dabbles in the blues when playing live)).
Robert Cray - 44, 699 friends (weird when compared to Buddy Guy).
Susan Tedeschi - 39, 986 friends ("looks" + super talent? - too early to judge? - she will get popular).
Buddy Guy - 28, 796) friends (weird considering his reputation; lack of marketing? too old?).
B.B. King - 27, 472 friends (too old for the internet crowd, like Buddy Guy?).
Taj Mahal - 26, 502 friends (too old for the internet crowd?).
Kenny Wayne Shepherd - 26, 229 friends ( has tried to go mainstream like Lang).
Ana Popovic - 21, 384 friends (super talent; ethnic friends from Europe? -will get more popular).
Popa Chubby - 13, 540 friends (hard to judge whether these numbers are just right or too low).
Coco Montoya - 9, 714 friends (so underappreciated)
Tommy Castro - 9, 237 friends (like Montoya -needs marketing or a "hit").
Debbie Davies - 4, 968 friends (no female guitar player has a better grasp of the "blues" -what a shame).
Colin Linden - 4, 029 friends (Canadian content?).
Keb' Mo - 898 (weird!!! something very wrong here).

So what can we make of this? The first thing that stands out is the lead held by Mayer - again this attests to his penchant for the "pop" hits - his fans respond better than blues fans respond to their idols. People have responded to Taylor Hicks a lot more than blues fans have responded to Buddy Guy. Is it the digital age? Are young people more "hero worshippers" than "blues" fans who tend to be older? Why the apathy towards the blues? Time? Age? Energy? Marketing?

If John Mayer is so popular - "bluesy" guitar and the "looks" - why isn't Fredrik Strand Halland popular? He needs a "hit"and could he become the Justin Bieber of the blues? If Mayer is perceived as selling out, then what do you call Clapton when he recorded a quasi-reggae tune ("I Shot the Sheriff"), a pop tune (Wonderful Tonight"), and a good serious composition ("Tears in Heaven") and gained more fame than he was able to handle? Is Mayer trying to introduce his young fans to the blues. Back in 60s the British invasion introduced us to the blues and America thought it was rock music. What will Fredrik S. Halland do? Life goes in cycles. The blues keeps hopping on and off the ride. Don't let ity go by. Catch it while you can.

Why the Blues?

The first question I had to ask myself was why I was starting yet another blues blog. Why bother? Because the popularity of music today requires that we do not forget its roots, its genesis, its history, its ever unfolding presence. The blues is alive and well and we need to keep nurturing it.

To the general population, the "blues" seems to lie beneath the surface, around the corner,  buried somewhere in the back of a record store. And suddenly it resurfaces only to vanish once again. There are "blues" revivals here and there over the years; along comes a SRV & everyone is whistling the "blues" & then it vanishes; it comes and goes and we are always reminded that it is there -always been there - but reminders are not enough. I'd like to see the "blues" rammed down people's throats the way Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber and others like them are shoved into people's face.

Why is the blues a secret? And it is a secret. When did you ever see Susan Tedeschi or Coco Montoya introduced by Jay Leno or Conan on their respective shows?

So, here we go with another "blues" blog, another avenue, another tug of war, another rant, another "look"at the blues.