This volume - a companion to the groundbreaking seven-part documentary series 'Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues' - represents a literary sampler every bit as vibrant and original and diverse as the films and music that inspired it. But the powerful influence of the blues, with its dramatic, artful storytelling about the elemental experience of being alive, is found in the works of some of our most important literary voices as well. Rock & roll, jazz, R&B, hip-hop: Without question, today's most popular sounds owe an incalculable debt to that uniquely American musical creation - The Blues.
