Cyberfolk Winter 1999
The Blues
Got the blues this winter? Great! This edition of Cyberfolk will give you even more...
The blues has influenced popular American music more than any other genre. It is the basis of rock and roll but until rock and roll drew attention to the blues it was a musical form enjoyed by a relatively small audience. Luckily, it has been gaining popularity ever since, as evidenced by the wealth of information about the blues available on the internet.
Start out with learning some blues history. A very thorough, scholarly work can be found at
http://www.island.net/~blues/history.htmlThe All-Media Guide is an excellent, cross-referenced, and extensive guide to the blues. It discusses nine different blues styles, contains extensive discographies and biographies of blues artists. To get to the blues section of the All-Media Guide, go to
http://www.allmusic.com/mus_maps.html and click on "blues", then on the next page click on the "intro" tab.The Blue Highway is a wonderful collection of essays on the blues, biographies of blues greats, a blues bulletin board, listings of blues radio shows by state, news and more. Find it at
http://www.thebluehighway.com/ Check out blues festivals everywhere at http://www.bluesfestivals.comA site dedicated exclusively to electric blues is
http://www.electricblues.com. Besides CD reviews, chat rooms and links to lots of artists sites, it has page of links to on-line blues broadcastsBlues World at
http://www.bluesworld.com/ has links to everything blues; essays, biographies, blues paraphernalia, and history. You can even take part in an auction for 78 rpm records.The Blue Flame Cafe bills itself as an interactive biographical encyclopedia of the great blues singers and singers of the blues, from Charley Patton to Stevie Ray Vaughan. Check it out at
http://www.blueflamecafe.comIt's a Girlthang at
http://www.gate.net/~pwfenton/girlthang/ is a celebration of women and their vast contributions to blues music.Finally, get off the computer and go hear some live blues! A listing of Chicago blues clubs can be found at
http://nitescape.com/chicago/blues/clubs.htmlCheck out the Cyberfolk archive at
http://www.cl.ais.net/chrismac/cyberfolkIf you have any favorite sites or topics you’d like to see mentioned in Cyberfolk, please let us know. Write to me care of Common Times, or email me at
chrismac@ais.net. See you in Cyberspace.
By Chris McIntosh
Copyright © 1999 Chris McIntosh
All Rights Reserved.