Try the hour-long weekly show True Blues archived weekly online at the BBC. Playlist included. The "listen again" link is in the orange box on the righthand side of the screen.

Kinda nice to leave USA culture for a UK DJ's view of the blues.

~S~

Blues music is deceptively simple. Three chords, sometimes two, occasionally only one - but behind this basic format lies a highly complex and intoxicating language of loss, torment, despair, ... and joy.

Yes, joy. Often the blues is seen as being essentially downbeat or moody but this is only half the story. A lot of early blues was conceived as dance or party music and it should be remembered that this music's basic twelve-bar format was an integral ingredient in the formation of rock 'n' roll.

True Blues presented by Euron Griffith tries to reflect all aspects of the blues and to do so in a way that, hopefully, doesn't treat the genre as a museum piece.

Blues music has evolved over the past hundred years and True Blues reflects this, playing a wide range of blues styles from classic Delta and Chicago Blues through to contemporary exponents like Keb Mo, Eric Bibb, Robert Cray and Kelly Joe Phelps.

Also featured are new artists like the White Stripes, who have famously fused the blues with punk and pop to create a heady and highly distinctive sound.

This is a specialist music show but it's not for specialists. It's for everyone.