About the album

Blues is more than a musical form. It is a way of seeing the world, a language of endurance, and a record of lives often left outside official histories. It was born in the fields, churches, rail yards, juke joints, and city streets of America, carrying stories of hardship, resilience, love, loss, migration, hope, and survival.

I, The Blues is both a tribute and a conversation. It brings together the voices of poets and musicians whose work helped shape the cultural landscape of the twentieth century. The words of Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Waring Cuney, Stuart Dybek, and Jerzy Kossek meet the enduring spirit of Delta and Chicago blues traditions represented by figures such as Robert Johnson, Son House, Charlie Patton, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Koko Taylor, and many more.

Rather than recreating the past, these recordings seek to continue its dialogue. Poetry becomes song, spoken word becomes rhythm, and literary voices find a home within the expressive language of the blues.