The Blues

I hope you enjoyed today's class.

As I mentioned, The Blues Brothers was one of my children's most popular videos. I think most children have fantasies about acting the way John Belushi and Dan Akroyd did in the Chez Paul.

Alan Lomax was an amazing collector of folk music, not just in the US but around the world. I use his books and recordings in my folk ballads class at Akita University. Some of his collections are available from the Library of Congress. Others are available commercially. One song, "Po' Lazarus", a ballad he recorded in a penitentiary, was even included in the movie "Oh, Brother". The soundtrack from the movie, mostly traditional folk music, went number one, and was best album at the Grammy Awards that year (2001). Not best folk album. Not best Country album. Not best film soundtrack album (well, it did also win that). Best album.

"The Land Where the Blues Began" is one of the most popular videos I have shown to my American students at Misawa. The American Patchwork series of videos doesn't seem to be available at the website for PBS anymore, but the American Roots Music series is.

Traditional American music continues to be popular. Amazon.com was advertising Bruce Springsteen's new folk music CD on its front page, and the CD was number one even before it was released.