Modern Blues

Modern blues is the continuation of the blues tradition from the late twentieth century to the present, in which successive generations of musicians renew the music's core language of twelve-bar harmony, expressive guitar and direct emotional address. Its modern era opened with the 1980s blues revival led by *Stevie Ray Vaughan* and *Robert Cray*, which returned electric blues to international charts, and continued through the acoustic roots retrenchment of *Keb' Mo'*, the arena-scale blues rock of *Joe Bonamassa* and the contemporary roots scene around *Gary Clark Jr.*, *Shemekia Copeland* and *Christone 'Kingfish' Ingram*. Modern production, festival circuits and streaming sustain the idiom without severing its club and regional roots.