Language of the Blues - Edmonton Blues Society

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Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my parents, Joe and Sandy, for their great passion for jazz, and for moving
our family from sunny Malibu to snowy Milwaukee, where I was exposed to one blues legend
after another who trekked up from Chicago to play the tiny Metropole Theater on
Oakland Avenue.
you want to play guitar, this is what
Metropole show, and thank him for an enthusiastic crash course in the blues, and for introducing
me to the R&B Cadets, especially Paul Cebar and Robin Pluer. Without these friends, I would
have been doomed to listening to the radio.
When I moved to New York City I was so homesick for Chicago blues that I actually wept with
relief during a Big Daddy Kinsey and the Kinsey Report concert in Prospect Park. I soon
discovered that promoter Buddy Fox was booki
thank Buddy for sharing contacts and memories with me during the writing of The Language of
the Blues: From Alcorub to Zuzu. I also thank Alligator Records founder and president Bruce
Iglauer, Delta Haze president Steve LaVere, record producer Dick Shurman, and manager and
photographer Dick Waterman for contacts, insights, and answers to my many questions. I am also
grateful to Steve LaVere for his informed and thorough review of the manuscript.
I met Buddy when I was hired as associate editor of Blues Revue magazine by editor-in-chief
Andrew M. Robble. Not only did Andy Robble hire a punk rock guitarist with no editorial
experience, he educated me in the art of the interview, which he had mastered. I thank him for
several delightful years working together, for helping me brainstorm the original list of terms that
became the basis for The Language of the Blues, and for great personal and
professional generosity.
Through Andy and Blues Revue, I first met many of the musicians who have given me in-depth
interviews over the years. I have been amazed by the generosity of even the busiest and most
famous artists when it comes to the blues. They believe in its power and give their all to support
it. I am deeply grateful to every musician quoted in The Language of the Blues, especially those I
had the honor to interview personally: Milton Campbell, Jr. (Little Milton); Herman Ernest III,
Robben Ford, Henry Gray, John Hammond, Robert Jr. Lockwood, Bob Margolin, Bonnie Raitt,
Red Tyler, Jimmie Vaughan, Jimmy Vivino, and Jody Williams.
I am also grateful to Sam LaHoz, Steve LaVere, Toni Ann Mamary, Joe Rosen, Sandy
Schoenfeld, Elliott Sharp, Mike Shea, and Dick Waterman for their compelling photographs, and
to Elliott Sharp for introducing me to Hubert Sumlin and always being encouraging and helpful. I
the draft and offering
invaluable insights and stories. Special thanks to Aki Oduola and Impact Artist Management for
upon hearing the news that I was writing this book, immediately packing up and mailing to me
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