Say there Anthony,

I'll give it a go. I grew up in the '60s listening to the the groups you mentioned.

I think your theme is interesting because It took me a long time to understand that the old blues masters who created the music I liked were actually better at playing the stuff than I first thought.

The records and radio technology I grew up with conditioned me that the way the British rock groups sang blues songs was right. At that time I didn't even like to hear other rock bands play each other's stuff because it didn't sound exactly right.

I guess it's possible to argue that modern guitarists and singers are more technically capable at performing than a share cropper who played on his porch as his only form of entertainment but I now know that he had "it" right because the blues came from him, from the way he felt. No matter how good the Brit Brats got / get they haven't paid the dues Muddy Watters, Howlin Wolf, Son House and Fred McDowell paid. No way they could but technology provided a glimps of a way of life and a music they never would have.

Those old guys had to borrow each other's guitars to play at local parties but they got recorded and the Brit Brats we love grew up listening to them like I did listening to them in the '60s.

I think technology helped create the blues with steel strings for guitars and trains to inspire rythms and electricity to provide amplification and recording technology. Now technology is keeping the blues alive by allowing us to listen to the roots of rock on CD players.

With all that said, today all three of the males in my family got the new Page / Plant CD. I'm over 40, my sons are 15 and 18. We all listen to music from the '30s to today, all of it linked to the Delta Blues, if not actually Delta Blues. Now it all sounds right!

Hope this helps

Gene E