"When I found blues, I found freedom. Freedom to sing the pain, to wail, to moan, to feel. And with that ability to feel and to release also comes joy and celebration and humor, which you can also find in this music. Freedom to experience the pain and the joy of life. Blues is life."

Avey Grouws Band: Heartbeat Music

With a deep…

"I miss the rawness of the old blues recordings. As time has went on I feel like things have become overproduced and in turn may have lost sight of the true meaning of what this style of music should be. Music is always evolving and the best thing for the future of the blues in my opinion is to try and get back to the roots. That being said there are many talented acts and blues musicians out there today, you just have to dig a little deeper to find them.…

"An obvious, historical example in the US was how music broke down the barriers to race divisions—Fans, white and black mingling at early Rock n Roll shows. I just want people to feel what I am singing, to get some kind of healing and truth from it."

Lisa Mills: Southern Royal Soul

Lisa Mills is a soul/blues singer who belts out her music in a…

"Today there is no such an impact. Music is mostly just layered sounds in the background endured to avoid facing menacing Silence… I already wrote about making music which, in the end, should always be fun while listening to music other mechanisms come into action with no filter whatsoever for all humankind. To answer your question about “affecting people” I see organized sounds and silences, along with verbal poetry,…

"Blues doesn’t have many boundaries. There are common forms but also other ways to express the sound and feeling.  The irony is that most blue music make people happy when they hear it. The music is always evolving but the roots of the sound are simplicity and emotion."

Altered Five Blues Band: Blues Power!…

"My hope is that modern musicians will continue to play from their hearts and share their stories about life with their listeners. It is our job to keep this great music alive!"

Donna Herula: The Fresh Blues Blossom

Donna Herula is a Chicago-born singer and acoustic blues slide guitarist that has a passion for playing traditional Delta and country…

"Music is such a universal form of expression. People have used music to express heavy emotion for ages. Think about the war cries of ancient tribes to create a sense of being connected with one another so they could operate as one. Music can unite us. In church people sing together to worship as one. Human beings need to feel connected to one another. When people come together in song it is powerful."…

"The Beats really had the blues…and bopped to the beat of modern jazz. They also connected to Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly and Sonny & Brownie."

Bob Angell: Supernal US Classical Music

Fresh album by Bob Angell, but a main-stay in the East Coast blues scene for many years. As Angell’s longtime mentor, the fabled Hubert Sumlin said,…

"The blues are the roots and the other musics are the fruits. It's better keeping the roots alive, because it means better fruits from now on. The blues are the roots of all American music. As long as American music survives, so will the blues." ~ Willie Dixon 

4th Thrill Blues Festival, Trilj Croatia:

The Heartbeat of the Blues in…

"Make peace with the blues. Some days are going to beat the hell out of you but it's all part of the tour. Celebrate the craziness that the music experience brings. My life would have been a hell of a lot more boring were it not for the extreme and even at times life threatening experiences I have had. Dance if you feel like it."

Andy Peake: Music City's Mood Swing…

"I want my music to impact people emotionally, I want to get into their soul, I want to be in their heart and in their emotions, I want to connect with them physically and emotionally, I want them to be a part of my show and feel like they are close with the band. I want to connect with them like they know us personally."

Jeff Fetterman: Southern Son…

"Music should be a healing escape that has no boundaries.  When a crowd of 10,000 people are singing a line to a song together, that's pretty special. If you feel like shedding some tears with some pizza and wine, music will help with that. If you need a mood lift, the right song will do the trick. We are in an age where all kinds of artistic inspiration can be available to us, and it's exciting."…

"I definitely miss the grit. I’m a younger guy, so my world has always been surrounded by technology and everything has become very corporate in the world. It’s hard to create authentic music in an industry that demands accessible music no matter the cost to the message."

Adam Schultz: Soulful Distancing

Born in 2002 and raised in New York City,…

"Music and art are always moving. The artists who created the blues of the past lived very different lives from those today. It is truly mind blowing this awesome music that came out of such hard times, deprivation, struggle, racism, and so on. WOW. One of America's greatest art forms was created by people who were among most overlooked, oppressed, discriminated against and terrorized. I think blues music is so powerful in it's power to transcend,…

"I think one of the keys to a life well lived is doing some of your greatest work at the end of your life."

Bob Cilman:

Wonderful Young@Heart People

Young@Heart is an entertainment group created by and for the elderly, comprised at present of people at least 70 years of age. Some have…

“The Blues means everything to me. It’s my roots, my upbringing. Some of my favorite people in the entire World were Blues performers and supporters. No matter my situation, God always provides through the Blues. I will always be a pioneer for Blues music and culture”

Jonathon Long: Boogie All Night Long

From Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Jonathon…

"For me Music is Love, Connection, is Giving and Receiving, and Blues Music and Rock`n`Roll has been connecting people and cultures with its own universal language!"

Spiros Soukis: Sweet Rock, Blues Thing

Spiros Soukis, guitarist/singer/songwriter, creates tunes that are spiced with funky grooves, shuffle beats and rock elements enlivened with…

"I miss not hearing music...I’d like to stumble upon something organically that’s not forced on me by algorithms based on my past listening habits. The casual listener gets absolutely bombarded these days."

Swift Silver: Southern Soul Drawings 

Southern songwriters Anna Kline and John Looney are Swift Silver. Their collaboration spans…

"In the earliest days blues was a form of communication and outlet for a group of people who were put at a serious disadvantage by society, and one thing that makes me very sad that not much has changed for the ancestors of those early African-American blues performers."

Jay Moonah (Broke Fuse): Moon Blues

Jay Moonah (Broke Fuse) has been active…

"I hope people can relate to the music and lyrics we have written whether its an upbeat hard Rock song that is riff based or whether its a song like Broken Dreams where it may trigger memories of past experiences. Our variety of songs may well trigger different emotional responses which is great."

Debra Susan: The Soundtrack of Life

Debra Susan is…