Optimism and pessimism both make their appearances as these veteran observers of blues music evaluate today's version and peer into their crystal balls to try to envision how the music will sound in the future, if indeed it survives at all or becomes a stagnant idiom. On the other end of the spectrum, many people are confident that blues will retain its vigor and power for years to come. No, I don't think so. I think when people hear musicians who still play the real blues, they'll come back to reality. As a blues musician, I think you can go out on a limb somewhat, and put other kinds of music in your blues, but if you go too far down that road, it's hard to come back.
Blues is the foundation of rock and soul and even much of jazz.
Popular music seems to go through a big change every 20 years or so, but the types of music, like blues, that survive are the ones that will win in the long run. The guitar has overwhelmingly become the instrument of choice among younger blues fans as well as younger musicians. The contemporary acoustic blues movement may offer a flickering ray of hope. Music is constantly changing, moving with the rhythms of the time it's played in. Changing with new technologies, new wars, new peace.