Blues is about making yourself feel GOOD not matter how bad things get. The process is something that Aristotle called "catharsis." The great blues singers may not have had the book-learnin' to know that word, but they certainly knew all about the process.

I think the expression "brownie points" had its origin in the idiom "brown-nosing," i.e., kissing up to an authority figure in anticipation of favorable treatment. It has taken on a life of its own, however, and there is no longer a negative connotation to "earning brownie points" ~ now it just means that you've done good deeds that deserve to be rewarded.

I hadn't noticed that no white artists had been mentioned prior to John Hammond Jr. Let's fix that right now:

Paul Butterfield
Charley Musselwhite
Mike Bloomfield
John Mayall

If we open the door to electric rock/blues, of course, there are plenty more Caucasians we can add:

Stevie Ray Vaughn
Bonnie Raitt
Duane and Greg Allman
Eric "God" Clapton
Johnny Winter
the previously cited Susan Tedeschi is, I believe, white as well as female
..and of course too many more to mention

Then there are acoustic folk-blues players like Bobert and many others who are not as famous as they should be. I'll leave it to someone more knowledgeable than myself to contribute a few names from this group.

If you don't know anything about Jeep Hammond's father, John Hammond Senior, Google him NOW. One of the most important figures in 20th century American musical history.