As the parent of so many American music styles, the blues, not surprisingly comes in many styles, shades, and hues. We start with a classic style of pre- Rock n' Roll blues, namely the barrelhouse piano and boogie. Memphis Slim was champion of this at times rollickin' style, but in this recording we hear his first use of guitar, an instrument that for years he swore he wouldn't never allow. The chops of Matt Guitar Murphy changed Slim's mind forever after.

Our second set starts with the electric sound of Chicago, morphs through a West Coast electric jump, and then moves towards the vocal heavy and solo guitar idiom. John Lee Hooker defined blues be it country, urban, electric, or rock and Jimmy Reed personified the rural south goes to Chicago electric. Sandwiched in between are Maria and Taj deep in the roots along with Little Charlie, one of the masters of West Coast Jump.

Set three is an excursion through the electric side of the blues, starting with the Northeast sound, followed by the deep Texas sound of the South, and wrapped up by the unmistakably metallic cool yet striking hot Chicago sound popularized by Albert Collins.

Soulful is just one of the many words that can describe Charles Brown, another pre- Rock 'n Roll artist, presented here in one of his last recordings. Duke Robillard lays a jump blues on us and Johnny Otis and Jimmy Rushing team up for a taste of the big band blues, if not Kansas City style jazz,. Lou Rawls lends his rich baritone to a deep rural style, but with the polish and debonair of a city dweller.

We round out the hour with some Lousiana gumbo from Professor Longhair from his final album, sadly released on the day of his passing, and a one last track from Peter Chapman, AKA Memphis Slim, with an infectious groove gives us our walking papers.