These and more oral histories from blues musicians, producers, and others who live the music can be seen in the EMP exhibit "Sweet Home Chicago," opening in Seattle on September 27th. Several are also available on line at www.emplive.org, including recently released rare footage of Muddy Waters and Sonny Boy Williamson from the American Folk Blues Festival, courtesy of Reelin' in the Years.

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Zora Young: Well, I think it’s like reality. You know, that’s another thing about the blues, it’s not pushed. It don’t die though, it just crawls on its own. ‘Cause it’s kind of hard to stamp out the truth. And so the truth is whatever you, I mean, it’s real, it’s what’s for real, you know? So I think that’s what the blues is. When you sing about the blues, you’re singing about your problems or what you know, or somebody else’s problems what you know, you know?

Lacy Gibson: Some people say the blues is a man done quit his woman, woman done left him. A lot of guys say the blues is a feeling, which I agree, blues is a feeling. Blues makes you happy.

Keb’ Mo’: When you go into the Delta, there’s something. Well what do they say about the soil down there? They say the Delta, out of all in the whole country, it had the richest soil, the richest farmers, because somehow the way the Mississippi came down, the way the soil got washed down, you could grow anything down there. It was just rich land. So something happened. It was the worst thing of slavery too. It was the worst, the worst, and the poorest state. So it’s like, the worst conditions brought out the best of the blues.

John Primer: No one can never describe the blues, cause it comes in all shapes and all forms. It’s just like life that we have goes on and on, that’s what blues is. You can sing blues all your life, and still sing something different about something that’s gonna happen. It’s always about something that’s gonna happen to you or a woman that did something to you. But it’s just that facts of life. That’s the way I see it, you never can describe it perfect. No one knows what it is. But that’s my feeling about it.

Video Copyright © 2003 Experience Music Project

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"Sweet Home Chicago" Exhibit