"In terms of racial issues, the Beats were especially fond of blues and jazz—Ginsberg’s last hours were spent listening the blues, when he was in a coma—their writings addressed issues important to the Black and Latino people. The Beats were extremely important to socio-political movements such as sexual and gay liberation, the ecology, and others."

Michael Schumacher: Rebellion…

"Blues music has traditionally been engrained in hardship and oppression, and can be hard to appreciate for a lot of people for various reasons, while Rock is all about the freedom and is much easier to get people on board with."

Beauwater: Everything Flows

Raw, bluesy, groovy and authentic. These are the characteristics behind the unique blend of…

"I really don’t believe that popular music or art in general have had a real political or social impact since the 1950s. Corporations are well aware of what George Orwell called the ‘controlled opposition’. That’s what they do."

The Questionnaires: Timeless Music

The Questionnaires are from Newcastle upon Tyne in Northern England. Jane Wade and…

"I am happy that there is a cultural revival movement among young Black Americans that wants to reclaim their cylinder and 78 heritage, as Irish, Appalachian, Jewish, Chicano, German, East European, Mongol, Asian and African people have been able to do. Traditional music is a visible and audible sign of health in a culture. If it is vibrant, it all acts together to bring solidarity to the communities the music serves."…

"The Blues changed. When my father was a young man the blues was a black audience, but when Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones, and Johnny Winters introduced the world to my father the Blues became white overnight. But the Blues is the foundation of music and crosses cultural borders – no boundaries – meaning age or race."

Mojo Morganfield: Blues Royal Bloodline…

"I would hope that more and more people would learn to love music that is made with simple, real instruments. Whatever kind of music it is, blues jazz, folk music, singer/songwriter music. I’m not a fan of things that are made that are too electronic. I prefer things to be more natural in sound."

Duke Robillard: Blues Bash with Friends

Since…

"As far as we know, in ancient times, poetry and music were the same thing. And of course we still speak of the music of poetry, in terms of meter, rhythm, rhyme, alliteration, repetition, and so on, even when the poetry is read silently from a page. If literature is defined as fine writing, it is always musical to some extent."

Steven Taylor: Notes Sutra,…

"I learned to be open to the chance, it made me want to “follow my inner moonlight”, express my feelings without being afraid and live my life to the fullest. Of course, “On the Road” brought in the forefront the technique of Bob prosody… More importantly, it taught me the meaning of friendship and it instructed me to try to listen to the music of the words, always underlying though seemingly latent, just like the music of the…

"Music is like the great equalizer. It brings people together, no matter the shape, size, backgrounds, orientation or color. You rarely hear people fighting over music. It Is something that is shared, and it bonds us all together. I think we need more music everyday. More unity."

Paul Boddy & The SlideWinder Blues Band

Paul Boddy & The…

"If everybody in the world are purely curious with no ego, war will disappear from this planet."

Hiromasa Suzuki: Rising Sun Blues

Guitarist and singer Hiro Suzuki born in Chiba, Japan. 1981 started the career as a professional musician in Tokyo Japan. 1992 moved to the U.S. and played with NYC bands such as Moose and The Bulletproof Blues Band,…

"The blues can mean pretty much anything in real life - you know, normally it's about somebody's lost loved one or somebody's lost love, or tragedies within themselves, or no work, no money. Then they turn to drinking and drugs and they write the blues, that's the blues within themselves. They say that the blues had a baby and they called it rock 'n roll, which is very true: rock 'n roll was born out of the blues from the Mississippi all the way to Chicago.…

"People to understand each other and not be at each other’s throat all the time, that we can find common ground, that we don’t have to be constantly at war with each other, that we don’t have to be concerned with how somebody else lives, that everyone’s different – I’d love to see that. Let’s give each other some room."

Charlie Daniels: The Southern Legend…