Blues in my bottle

The Blues as an artform goes back to the turn of the century when former slaves and the children of slaves expressed in song what could not be expressed directly within the dominant white society.

Intolerable working conditions, miniscule wages, long hours spent in the fields under a hot sun, racism, oppression, brutality, segregation, as well as joy, hope, longing, praise, and happiness were put into words and music, creating a unique and vibrant artform that has lasted throughout the past century.

The blues I pursue is that early acoustic form -- the music you can still occasionally hear being played on the front porches in the small towns of the Mississippi Delta, where a voice, a guitar, and an entire life's experience are funneled into a sound that resonates far beyond the music itself.

Join me on this road I travel, as I keep walkin' my blues away . . .

Michael "Slideman" Smith, 2005