The blues have been around now for nearly a century and they are still alive and kicking. It is the music of my people, the black residents of America, but it speaks to the world. The blues came out of the plantations of the Deep South, the travelling shows, the bars and speakeasies. And as black people moved to the big cites of the north and west, the blues followed them and changed to reflect life on the streets as they had reflected life in the country.

BB King

The Inside Story of Amplication

As fans of blues music it is too easy to ignore or overlook those individuals and organisations that support and promote the genre. Such as society's,  teachers, magazines , radio shows, foundations and many more. There are far too many for this article,  so lets look at just a few.

In 1980 Willie Dixon was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame. In 1982,  with royalty money from his songs he generously created the The Blues Heaven Foundation This non-profit organisation offers such programs as Blues in the Schools and scholarship funds, and also gives aid to down and out blues artists.
 

Blues musician Michael Hawkeye Herman was  the recipient of the Blues Foundation's 1998 Keeping the Blues Alive Award for achievement in education.

Herman has been a professional musician for over thirty years, touring extensively throughout the US, Canada, and Europe, performing at festivals, concerts and clubs

His selection for the Keeping the Blues Alive  award is the result of sixteen years of dedication to bringing blues music to students of all ages through his Blues in the Schools program and his helping initiate such programs for blues societies, as well as educational workshops at blues and folk festivals.

Hawkeye has reached out to a diversity of students, from pre-school to the college level. The list of institutions that have benefited from his presentations ranges from Stanford, Colorado, and Arkansas State Universities, to elementary, junior and senior high schools in his home area of the Quad Cities, along the Mississippi River in Iowa and Illinios. He credits the support of blues clubs and societies, like the Mississippi Valley Blues Society in Davenport,  for the rise in interest in blues music, and helping to bring the watershed of American popular music to young people.

Hawkeye ...
 

My mission is to let young folks know that the blues is an important aspect of American music history, influencing other styles of music in the past, right up to the present. Blues is the real
deal, the story of  the human experience, and that will always hold a place in the hearts and minds of the people. I'm trying to ensure, through my educational programs and workshops, that future generations are aware of their own rich musical heritage.

The personal satisfaction of doing what I love, combined with reaching out to people, are wonderful rewards in themselves. I am most honoured, grateful, and encouraged to be recognised for my efforts by the Blues Foundation.

Lane is kept  that promise,  by offering Blues Education and Entertainment Programs and opening Upstairs Beale  an Interactive Children Blues Museum, in 1998.  This is the blues adventure of all times for children. They  received a guided tour, filled with stories which capture a child'simagination, of The Memphis Music Hall of Fame and then enter a rooms designed to re-create the Beale Street of the 20's to the  40's and the children participate in workshops.

Lane's has produced a CD on the Rooster Label entitled  Children Educational Activites. Lane is a performing and touring artist with five state's Arts Commissions. Her program deals with the Southern culture and contributions of the African-American in the field of the Arts. She is a teaching artist for Wolftrap Center for Early Childhood Development, YMCA and the Memphis Arts Council. She has designed children's programs for the Delta Cultural Center, King Biscuit Blues Festival, Arts In The Park and the YMCA. This is an experience which builds African-American children's self-esteem and educates children of other cultures on the contributions of the African-American people to the world of American Art.

The Delta Blues Education Fund was founded in November, 1992 with the mission statement: To bring together the children and master musicians of the Mississippi Delta for the continuation of the Delta Blues tradition. Approximately eighty-seven percent of its budget is used to pay master Delta Blues artists and for direct support materials such as musical instruments.

The  Delta Blues was born in this community and geographic region served by the Delta Blues Education Progamme. Even though Delta natives Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf, Albert King, John Lee Hooker and others left for more promising opportunities elsewhere, hundreds of other artists stayed behind to keep the tradition alive where the genre is played at weddings, house parties, fish fries, juke joints and festivals.

Most of the DBEP's apprentices are black, and have native American heritage, come from impoverished families and are between the ages of 9 and 15. Many of the best apprentices are considered at risk children in the local school systems. The Delta Community served by the DBEP is sixty-five percent African-American, and predominantly rural based.

Blues Societies are enthusiast of the musical genre and constantly promote and support both local and overseas blues musicians
 

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