Page 31 - BiTS_08_AUGUST_2025

“That’s a tough question to answer briefly … Step one: retirement, I wrote a lot on
my job and once retired, I knew I would have the time and the ability to write for

myself. Step two: I wrote A Man & The Blues rather quickly in 2019. I was happy with
it, but it failed to sell which was disappointing; I knew almost immediately that I
should try again in a different style. Step three, Jim O'Neal of Living Blues and
bluesoterica fame talked me into writing an index for the first 50 years of LB

magazine. This project, starting in lockdown, took nearly two years. Step four: having
gone through LB for two years, I had a whole lot of blues things running through my
head. My muse said ‘get it down on paper’- so I did... Crucial to being able to write

the books was the fact that I have a complete collection of LB magazines from day
#1, and that since 1972 I had kept my own blues archive/ library.”

Have you been aware of the European blues magazines?

“The short answer is no... I have always known about Blues Unlimited and I have the
first seven issues of Talking Blues from 1976, but have not had exposure to any other
British magazines. I know of Juke Blues by reputation, but have never seen an issue.

Likewise I know of Jefferson from Sweden but have never seen one. In general I don't
spend a lot of time on the Internet, other than buying CDs; I count on my personal
blues library for most information when writing. I do have a near complete set of

Blues Revue Quarterly as well as Blues Review/Real Blues, out of Vancouver Canada,
several years worth of Toronto Blues Society Newsletters and a few Orlando,
Orange County Blues Society Newsletters.