Blues Music Quotes

“For some people [blues music] is infinitely glamorous, for others it is a symbol of the oppression of a racial minority.”
― Paul Oliver, The Story Of The Blues: The Making of Black Music

“At some unknown early date, he [Mercer] took to crossing over regularly to the black side of town, where he immersed himself so deeply in jazz and blues that he would one day receive a citation from a black social group calling him 'our favorite colored singer.' As Hoagy Carmichael, his partner in jazz, would say, 'Johnny knew.' For all his adaptability, there was a black-jazz base in everything Mercer wrote.”
― Wilfrid Sheed, The House That George Built: With a Little Help from Irving, Cole, and a Crew of About Fifty