Thriving Blues Story aired: Monday, September 29, 2003
Congress has designated 2003 "The Year of the Blues" and in these times of war and a far-from-hot economy, maybe they've picked the right year. To celebrate, blues record labels have released a flood of recordings, including the 60-song set "Box of Blues" by Rounder Records and "The Story of the Blues" by Columbia Records.
This past weekend, an ambitious, seven-film documentary series premiered on PBS that sets out to explore in depth the African American folk form from which so much modern rock, R&B, and pop music emerged. Martin Scorsese produced the series and directed last night's kick-off. Future films will be directed by Clint Eastwood, Wim Wenders, Marc Leven, Mike Figgis and others.
Folk critic Scott Alarik joins Here and Now to talk about why the blues is on so many people's minds.
