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down and I’m like with certain people that I really wanted in my book and then certain people I
tried so hard to get a
hold of. Like I tried to
get a hold of Marcia Ball.
I didn’t get hold of her.

Dorothy Moore. Tried in
vain. I think it took me
about a year and a half.
A little over a year and a
half, but I could have
done it sooner if I’d

worked harder.
BiTS:
[Laughing] Sounds like
a motto for life doesn’t
it really.
JN:
Yeah. There was no
shortage of women that
I had photographed to
put in my book. I had
loads of women. I’m
hoping that if I sell enough, I can do a volume 2, 'cos I feel like there’s so many women’s stories

that didn’t get told yet. I can easily do a volume 2. Will this publisher work with me? I don’t know.
BiTS:
Let’s hope it sells enormous numbers and that there is a volume 2 and I also hope that we see
some more books from you because I know you’ve been taking photographs for a very long time
and you know a great deal about blues musicians and blues music, it’s about time that somebody
took you up as a regular compiler of text for books for all sorts of reasons.
JN:
Well thank you, but do you know what? I really do like blues by women because I always felt
that women were under-represented. All the time. If you look at the history of festivals booked,
women are grossly underrepresented and booked. For instance, let me give you an example. Go

look at the London Blues Fest which is coming up. There’s like three women and 17 guys and so
I feel like the women can always use a boost and I’ve always felt that way though. I’ve always
felt that the women were under-represented. What I do at these festivals, especially in the UK,
'cos I live here in London, I call the promotors out. I say where’s the harmonica players, where’s
the women? Enough of the guitar shredders. We need to have more diversity. They get mad at
me, but I don’t care. I have nothing to prove in the blues world. I’ve seen it all, done it all and
I’ve worked behind the scenes as most of us do without pay for so many years. You have no idea

how many people I help get their material to the IBBA. Most people don’t know about the IBBA,
especially in the States and I help them.
What I do is when I get good promos in the emails, I pass them onto the American artists, and I
say this is a good example of a promo that’s gonna get airplay. This is gonna get airplay right
here because you know how it is as blues DJ. You don’t send it right, you just go nuts because

you get so many emails and the if files aren’t tagged and all that stuff. I’m continuously helping
mostly American artists get airplay on the IBBA.