Given the recent interest in blues on Mudcat at the moment, I thought I'd ask folks what introduced them to the blues, and what developed that interest.

For me, it was a couple of films that did it, all of which I saw for the first time in my mid-late teens. The Blues Brothers was probably the most obvious influence, and although I think it was a great film it wasn't particularly the music of the Blues Brothers Band that most appealed, it was some of the background music - this was the first time I heard anything as mesmerising as John Lee Hooker's Boogie Chillen for example. Another influential film was Crossroads, which introduced legend of Robert Johnson, and also introduced Ry Cooder's playing.

Once I got started, I started listening to artists such as Hooker and Cooder, and Robert Johnson. I also bought a CD called The Roots of Robert Johnson, which contains the songs which influenced his own, and introduced a whole raft of other artists from the 20s-30s. I'd also started seeking out live performances too - had a particular liking for a couple of Lincoln bands - the Bamboo Beat Band and the Walter Harpman band - anyone remember those?

Nowadays I'm interested in listening and playing all sorts of music, but there's always a blues influence in there somewhere.

I'm sure my experience isn't that different to many other blues lovers - so what's your experience?