Keeping blues alive and well Marleen Troutt Daily Egyptian Oliver Sain is fighting a battle to keep rhythm and blues alive. Sain, who will appear at Mugsy McGuire's this Saturday, was practically born into the music business. The surname spelling difference resulted from a birth certificate error, His stepfather was pianist Willie Love. His celebrated five-decade career began in West Arkansas, Miss., blues joints and was soon shared with giants of the genre including Elmore James, Sonny Boy Williamson, Willie Nix, Little Junior Parker, Howlin' Wolf and Little Milton Campbell, as well as icons Ike and Tina Turner. Sain tried to characterize what blues is, the music that would shape his career path and life.
Blues is gospel music.
The feeling blues artists have belong to music. You can't just depend on a beat. Sometimes with hip-hop music we just need a good beat. What you say doesn't really matter. We were playing long before integration.