The ethnomusicologist on the Blues, origin stories and the mixture of colonizers that made Louisiana its likely birthplace. From the misery of the plantation to the classic blues decade of the women,  the Harlem Renaissance to Louisiana festivals and everything in between. The Blues is alive and well. Listen to Interview with Dr. Joyce Jackson along with notes, transcript, pictures  and videos.

Includes Crazy Blues the first commercial recording of blues music by Mamie Smith and Blues a 1938 Alan Lomax recording of Calvin Frazier for the Library of Congress.