WHO SAYS THE BLUES IS AN OLD MAN’S GAME? AGE ISN’T A FACTOR, AS THESE ARTISTS REVEAL.

AFTER THE 1960s blues boom, the genre began to lose traction as rock, metal, punk, rap and hip-hop took turns in music’s mainstream. Stevie Ray Vaughan became the blues’ first great hope in many years when he arrived on the scene in 1983. Slowly, the genre came to life again as new players followed in his footsteps. Today, blues is healthier and more diverse than ever.

Fantastic Negrito

DEANDRE FORKS

Whether you like your blues stately and traditional or subversive and spicy, there’s almost certainly something for you. There’s the classic torch carriers like Jonny Lang and Kenny Wayne Shepherd, rock-and-soul innovators like the Tedeschi Trucks Band and Marcus King, and contemporary blues-rock big hitters like Joe Bonamassa and Joanne Shaw Taylor. Gary Clark Jr. and Fantastic Negrito blend hip-hop and old-school blues, while Jack White and Samantha Fish create their blues stew with elements of rock and roots music. And then there are Megan and Rebecca Lovell, the two sisters behind blues-rock bright sparks Larkin Poe, and proponents of some of the most fiery, commanding slide-fueled noise currently in rock and roll. To quote South Africa’s funked-up Stevie Ray Vaughan-channeling virtuoso Dan Patlansky, “This is not your daddy’s blues; this is renegade blues.”