Blues Rules

Anthropologist teacher & Ethnomusicologist| Musician | Winner of 2 Grammy Awards

I write as a former participant in the festival (2019) and as one who has been involved in blues music research, teaching, publication, performance, and promotion since the 1960s.

Blues Rules is the latest in a long history of European blues festivals that have tried to feature American performers who adhere closely to the traditional sounds and styles of African-American blues music. I could cite the traveling American Folk Blues Festival, organized from Germany in the 1960s, the Amsterdam Blues Festival and Blues Estafette in The Netherlands and the Salaise Blues Festival in France in the 1980s, and various others in the UK and other countries of Europe that I have observed or participated in since that time. Over the years since the 1960s European appreciation of American blues music has grown, and the genre has now become part of the international spectrum of popular music that includes rock & roll, jazz, hip hop, reggae, soul, and other genres. This process of popularization has also seen the participation of many European and other non-American performers of the music, and it has led to the elevation of a blues-rock hybrid style as the "face" of the music for many of the new followers and listeners. As a result, many European blues festivals today are content to present few, or even not any, American performers, or only ones who perform in a blues-rock style. While I intend no disrespect for the many fine non-American artists who are performing blues today, I think it is very important that European audiences also be exposed to the variety of styles of this music performed by American artists, particularly those American artists who adhere closely to the music's traditions. Blues Rules is one of the very few European festivals that does that.

When I performed at Blues Rules in 2019, I was one of at least six acts from America, including bands. One of the artists I was very glad to see was Cedric Burnside from Mississippi, whose father and grandfather I had recorded and documented as part of my research in the 1970s and 1980s. Cedric has recently won awards and has developed a substantial career in music. The festival was well attended and very well organized, both for the fans and for the comfort of the artists, even despite the heavy rain that inconvenienced everyone on one night. I'm very glad that you are continuing with a similar type of programming in your selection of artists for the 2022 festival, and I wish you great success in your effort to obtain supplemental funding in order to accomplish this goal.

Sincerely,

David Evans
Professor of Music Emeritus
The University of Memphis