Background

It is no coincidence that the city of Chicago is host to the largest annual blues festival in the world (1984 – present).  Chicago lineage to the blues can be traced back to the 1900s when Chicagoans reveled in the blues to the likes of Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Howlin’ Wolf, and Little Walter et al., all of whom would become world renown.  Blues clubs proliferated on the South, West, and North sides of the city to showcase their talent.  Entrepreneurs then spread the musicians’ influence from Chicago to across the nation, overseas, and onto the airwaves of far away countries setting the foundation for Chicago becoming the blues capital of the world.

Aspiring and professional musicians alike come from around the world to visit Chicago with instrument in hand for the chance to perform on stage with Chicago blues musicians as sort of rite to passage as being an authentic bluesman/woman.  On any given night during the last set, most blues musicians will allow nonprofessional musicians on stage for the opportunity to jam.

This generation of Chicago’s blues musicians has taken the proverbial torch from its predecessors and continues to keep Chicago’s blues alive.  Who currently holds that torch?  Who are the musicians that behold the talent that makes Chicago blues special?  Too many blues players of this decade play in obscurity compared with the musicians who have graced the stages a generation past.