A Conversation with Robert Cray (continued)

PM: One hopes that this imminent Scorsese PBS series, The Blues, could be a great thing for many deserving artists, including yourself.

RC: Well, you know what? That's fine and dandy, but I think, more importantly, that people who really haven't sunk their teeth into the genre will realize the importance of this music, not only in America, but the rest of the world. I think that's the main thing. And I would like to kind of step aside and pay homage and respect to those who've gone before, and those who've been around a lot longer than me, who deserve a lot more recognition.

PM: Right. It's more like, "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Blues."

RC: Uh-huh.

PM: Yeah, because, hey, jazz certainly came more into the public consciousness as a result of that Ken Burns classic work.

RC: You got it, yeah.

PM: Even though, I mean, it's impossible to cover jazz, it's impossible to cover the blues.

RC: That's true.

PM: But you just got to take a stab at it, and God bless him, he did it.

RC: Well, it's like you get excited about your first Howlin' Wolf record, then you want to get more. So maybe that'll be the thing that people do.

PM: Right.

RC: On that jazz thing, I mean, you learn so much about Louis Armstrong and how important he was to the whole thing, it's like wow! I'm sure his record sales went up tenfold.

PM: No doubt. In fact, there were those detractors who said, "Hey, come on, he wasn't that important."

[laughter]

PM: Now I'm wondering who's going to get that Louis Armstrong push in The Blues.

RC: Yeah, right. I have no idea. I haven't seen it yet, either. But the thing is on this, though, it's going to be different because there are different film makers involved, each with their own take on it. There's Charles Burnett, Wim Wenders, there are all these different directors. Clint Eastwood is doing something on the piano players. So it's a lot of different takes on a lot of different styles.

PM: That was a real brainstorm.

RC: And there's one on English blues and that influence. So a lot of different angles are covered. continue

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