Re: Tim Moyer's comments on PBS system

["Tim Moyer" <wmharps@xxxxxxxxx>]

Tom Ellis wrote:
> I couldn't disagree more with Tim Moyer's comment that the 
> point of the 5th PBS series film was that the English musicians 
> brought the blues to an American audience that had ignored it.  

Regardless whether you agree with this position or not, I think it's 
indisputable that this was the point of the program.  The example of 
the rollicking, honky-tonk style piano of the Beatles "Lady Madonna" 
was superimposed over pictures of the Beatles stepping off airplanes 
all over America.  The Stones were shown performing with Muddy 
Waters.  Cream was shown playing "I'm Glad", and a vast amount of 
time was devoted to interviews with Eric Clapton and John Mayall and 
Mick Fleetwood, all of whom described the time they spent pursuing 
blues and jazz in the UK before coming to America.  

I didn't mean to imply that these were all blues acts, far from it.  
Cream may not have been a blues band, but if you asked people to name 
one Cream song, it would probably be "Crossroads".  Their music 
couldn't help but be influenced by their backgrounds, and this 
influenced a generation of American fans and musicians.  

I didn't start playing music until 1972, but my early influences 
included Cream, as well as the Yardbirds, the Small Faces, the 
Stones, Led Zepplin, and other British bands who in some cases 
notoriously based their work on blues.  This sent us searching out T-
Bone Walker and Elmore James and Robert Johnson, as did American acts 
of the same time, who were also certainly aware of this musical 
treasure trove.  

But the point of the program was driven home by B.B. King's comments 
thanking the British musicians for raising the awareness of the 
American public about the blues.  Whether you agree with it or not, 
this was what the program was about.  

- -tim