How does a 39-year-old white photographer get the BLUES?

In the mid sixties my favorite music was performed by The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, Eric Clapton, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Jimmy Hendrix, Canned Heat, early Fleetwood Mac, Derek & the Dominos, Cream and yes, John Mayall and Paul Butterfield. The common factor in this music that I loved was that it all came from The Blues without my knowing so. I thought Clapton wrote Crossroads. How was I to know that most of my favorite music was in fact not written by Jagger/Richards but Muddy Waters, Big Joe Turner and Willy Dixon?

I have always photographed what interested me. In the late eighties, I decided that I wanted to record the faces Blues artists. I didnÕt know yet exactly how I was going to render them, nor did I know how I would obtain access to them but I decided to pursue this as a portrait project. (continued)

State of the Blues: The Living Legacy of the Delta
is available at barnesandnoble.com