Blues @ The Junction is an ambitious project created by three blues fans: David Sillery does the research and writing; Dieter Gade, working from SilkeSound Studio is our technical director; and Marie Eleniak is the voice that brings it together. It is a labour of love, aiming to produce a series of one hour radio shows illustrating the widespread and continuing effect of blues music on popular music around the world.

BLUES ROOTS

Blues music has been around for well over a hundred years, continuously changing and developing from shadowy roots in the nineteenth century. In the beginning it was composed and played by black musicians for black audiences and has been described as the only art form that is purely North American. Lots of people, not least blues artists themselves, have tried to define blues music but really only managed to describe aspects of the blues.

ENTER “BLUES @ THE JUNCTION.”

We are not going to try to define blues music, that is too limiting and it’s your opinion that counts most. Neither are we presenting a strictly historical account, that’s been done often enough before and wouldn’t allow us to arrange the songs for their best effect. We are going to play blues and music that could not have been born without blues. Each episode is a blend of great tunes to entertain, and information to provide a context to the music, so You, the listener, can decide for yourself which is blues and which is not, and whether it matters. Each episode will be based on a theme that gives some structure yet allows us to play a broad spectrum of blues influenced music.

 SONG LYRICS

Books have been written about the poetry of the blues. While there are many songs that rework older material or rely more on the artist and the tune for their popularity, there are many inspiring original songs. That they were often written by poorly schooled, even illiterate men and women adds depth and pathos to the music. The words reflect hardship and suffering, emotional highs and lows, social injustice, and surprisingly often, humour: in fact, pretty well all aspects of the human condition. Much of this is easy to miss in a quickly sung three minute tune, especially when the singer has an unfamiliar accent.

Space and copyright restrictions do not allow us to reproduce lyrics but we urge you to “google” song lyrics – there are many online sources.

Junction Arts and Music has sponsored us to produce our radio shows and generously allowed us to stream them from this website.