OK, wise guys, what's this "no more blues" business? Just how do you spell bluegrass anyway? Blues is essential to bluegrass; intimately related, as its best practitioners have proven. Bill Monroe's first gigs were with black blues guitarist Arnold Schultz, and Bill pondered a blues career thereafter. Jimmy Roders, lauded founder of modern country music and songs performed for yuears on bluegrass stages, wrote and performed dozens of strictly blues compositions: T for Texas, Blue Yodel #1-79, No Hard Time Blues, etc. etc. Even your own oft-cited influence, Uncle Josh, played blues on nearly every solo. Exclude the blues and you eliminate a lot of bluegrass standards. Ex.--Bill Monroe: Muleskinner Blues, Rocky Road Blues, True Life Blues. Carter Family: Jealous Hearted Me, Coal Miner's Blues. Earl Scruggs: Lonesome Road Blues, Mama Blues, Take this Hammer.Jimmy Martin: Freeborn Man, Sitting on Top of the World. Doc Watson: Deep River Blues and dozens of other recordings. I wouldn't suggest a Stevie Ray Vaughan jam, but let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater (one of my favorite expressions, by the way.)The purest purist in bluegrass couldn't separate blues from bluegrass. Neither should we.