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The Blues deals with very personal types of pain.  But it doesn’t wallow in self-pity.  The blues is about overcoming – like Martin Luther King Jr. used in his marches – “We Shall Overcome”.   Great blues is all about a catharsis – a purging – of the things that hurt us so that we can go on living better lives!   Nothing captures the Christian sense of death and redemption like the blues;  When you think of the blues, you think about misfortune, betrayal and regret. You lose your job, you get the blues. Your mate falls out of love with you, you get the blues. Your dog dies, you get the blues.

Appallingly, America seems to be back at 'the crossroads' again in 2021.  At the time that I'm publishing this, Georgia has just instituted voter suppression laws again, and there are bills in 43 of our states to follow suit.  I hope this episode of American Song serves as a reminder about the horrors we've already been through as a nation, and a strong statement that we MUST NEVER go there again.  I pray that the 'better angels' (to use a phrase from Abraham Lincoln)  of our natures and our nation gain control.  I hope that this entire podcast series is a reminder of how great our nation is and has been, and that we realize that it is BECAUSE and not despite of our diversity that we have been so.

Track List
Viola Davis - from Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (Netflix)
Interview:  Leadbelly on the Origin of the Blues
The Burden of the Angel Beast - Bruce Cockburn, from Dart to the Heart
Homeless - Ladysmith Black Mambazo, from Paul Simon's Graceland 
Woke Up This Morning, With my Mind on Jesus - Mississippi Fred McDowell
Motherless Child - O.V. Wright
We Shall Overcome - Mahalia Jackson
Strange Fruit - Bessie Smith
Signifying Monkey - Oscar Brown
Cross Roads - Robert Johnson
Dust My Broom - B.B. King
W.C. Handy - St. Louis Blues
John Lee Hooker - Boom Boom
Midnight Special - Leadbelly
See That My Grave is Kept Clean - Blind Lemon Jefferson
Interview:  Steven Johnson (grandson of Robert Johnson)
Preaching Blues (Up Jumped the Devil) - Robert Johnson 
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom - Ma Rainey
This Train - Sister Rosetta Tharpe
You Shook Me - Muddy Waters
Interview:  Buddy Guy (with Nick Harcourt and Guitar Center)
Jumpin' at the Woodside - Count Basie and his Orchestra
One O'Clock Jump - Lester Young
Mean Old World - T Bone Walker
Indian Tom Tom - Big Chief Henry's Indian String Band
Sibo Bangoura - Ted Talk from TedX Sydney
Hey Hey - Eric Clapton, Unplugged

For a listing of all sources, please visit our American Song Podcast page on Facebook or download this episode's script, posted on this website.

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