“I’m better at making music than explaining the power and legacy of roots music. I love the pure forms, I love amalgamated forms that have the pure forms in their DNA, but I don’t particularly like Genre labels. Music is music.”

Mark W. Winchester: They Got It All

Well-respected roots…

“The blues, its rhythms and structures, originated in Africa and crossed over to America. It is a universal language which everyone can feel if they listen closely.”

Steve Louw: Traces Of The Flood

Steve Louw (born 16 September 1955)…

“Music has been a part of my life as far as I can remember, so I guess it has influenced every view I have. It has taken me around the world, meeting people from many different cultures, all connecting through the music. Blues has always been there, the whole time. I think blues is sometimes misunderstood as a sad music, when it actually helps get over sadness.”…

“Poetry and music are the lifeblood of human beings, and a society without those is inhuman. I assume that poetry and music are examples of free expression, and in that respect are the canary in a coal mine. If they’re diminishing or being extinguished it’s a sign the country is filling with the lethal gases of authoritarianism.”

Steven Gray: Counterculture To…

“There are a few really amazing slide guitarists around now that have kept it going. Also, slide has that vocal quality to it like a human voice and I think that moves people. I try to capture emotion in my playing as opposed to shredding a lot of notes, and maybe that’s easier to listen to for some.”

Rick Vito: Slidemaster -…

“Music today gives people a place to connect, escape, and heal. Blues is the root of it all — rock, soul, even hip-hop grew out of it. Preserving and spreading the blues matters ’cause it’s our history, our truth, and it still speaks to what folks are going through now.”

Jay Hooks: Tequila, Bullets &…

“Blues is the root of rock and roll. It is the birthplace; we wouldn’t have rock and roll without it. It’s the root of Americana, of country, or RnB, you name it. Wehave to preserve the genre and its history. We simply cannot move on as a society and leave it behind, we need to honor and cherish the genre as an art form. There’s a thousand ways to keep it alive, reinterpret it, uphold the tradition. Blues cannot and will…

“My personal opinion is the blues came out of hardships and the music was a place where humanity could go and find release. That's why I want to spread and preserve the blues.”

Geoff NewhalL: Music City’s Soundtrack

“Long Hollow…

“The blues means honesty. It means soul. It means taking pain and turning it into something powerful and something beautiful. The blues is real life, it’s not perfect, it’s not polished, it’s raw and it’s emotional. But it’s also joy and strength and attitude.”

Lexie Blue: Blues with…

“Blues is the foundation of so much modern music but more importantly, it’s the voice of human experience. Preserving it means preserving stories of resilience, pain, hope, and survival.”

Nardia: The Force in Contemporary R&B

Nardia is an award-winning singer-songwriter…