By the early 1960s, blues was largely abandoned by its original African-American audience. But by the late '60s, the form had been embraced by young white fans. So the sound mutated, and continues to do so. White blues has more of a rock feel, with the British giving it a distinct (though hard to define) elan all their own. Meanwhile, in pursuit of the new audience, most surviving black veterans (and the few young African-Americans… more »
--Ed. Note: In honor of the passing of Les Paul, we have decided to rerun Lenny Kaye's wonderfully insightful column on the man.
It's the "Guitar Boogie" to end all guitar boogies, with an honor guard of guitarists arrayed behind the benevolently smiling figure of Les Paul, who sits on a raised platform from where he has just finished entertaining a sold-out house at the State Theater in Cleveland and accepting an American Master award from… more »
To the best of my knowledge, nobody has ever made a good case for a Cincinnati blues sound, but the Queen City was no stranger to the blues. A rough-hewn, urban backwater on the banks of the Ohio River (which is also the Kentucky state line), Cincinnati is arguably the most southern city to find itself misplaced north of the Mason-Dixon line, and as home to King Records played occasional host to a variety of… more »
