Can you remember the first time you heard the blues and it hit you square right between the eyes? Like many teenagers of my day I was listening to top 40 AM radio. If you happened to live in Cincinnati tri-state area, then WSAI was your station in the1960's. The British invasion was in full swing, battling the main stay American pop -rockers. It was the Beatles, The Stones, The Who and The Dave Clark Five vs Freddie & the Dreamers, The Young Rascals, The Turtles and the Beach Boys. A few years passed by and all of a sudden it was 1969. I was into the Doors, Hendrix, the Kinks and Cream. I went to the record store looking for a bargin. There happened to be a Capitol Records Sampler with a number of new artists on the record. Steve Miller Band, Bob Seger had cuts on the record and also someone I had never heard of before: Mississippi Fred McDowell. I listened to his cut and listened again and again. "Baby Please Don't Go" was the song that hooked me and introduced me to the Blues. Fred changed my entire take on music! It was McDowell that put me on the path to Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Slim Harpo, Hound Dog Taylor and a host of other players. I never got the opportunity to thank him, but thought it wasn't too late to let the world know now. Perhaps you have a similar story.
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