I have been hosting the Monday Don’t Forget the Blues Hour on WPFW since November 2000 (including operating the board and peripheral equipment). I have full artistic freedom over the choice of songs that I play on air and interviews that I perform, and have interviewed many of the greatest names in blues, including Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor, Jimmie Vaughan, Shemekia Copeland, Mavis Staples, Tommy Castro, James Cotton, Susan Tedeschi & Derek Trucks, as well as many others.
My early entrée into blues, and major influences, came via blues rock (like many people of my generation, growing up in the 1970s), primarily by the bands ZZ Top, George Thorogood, Bob Seger, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, Allman Brothers Band, Bonnie Raitt, Little Feat and DC area’s own The Nighthawks. My first roommate in college (fall 1980) was a junior and he had a big blues album collection (as did another guy across the hall), including Muddy Waters, Roy Buchanan, Johnny Winter and others. This also had a major impact on me and further put me on the path of being a blues lifer.
Highlights
- Member of the DC Blues Society since 1988, the Blues Foundation since around 1995, and Baltimore Blues Society since around 2000. I receive and read publications from each of these organizations, and vote in the annual Blues Music Awards.
- Served as a judge for the Blues Foundation’s Best Self-Produced CD multiple years
- Served as a judge multiple times for both the DC Blues Society and Baltimore Blues Society for their band contests to select representatives to go to the International Blues Challenge (IBC)
- MC’ed or announced bands at multiple blues festivals or concerts in the greater DC/Baltimore region
- Have subscribed to both Living Blues Magazine and Blues Revue/Blues Music Magazine for over 25 years, as well as receive many other email blues newsletters
- Have sent a weekly email blast (and posts on Facebook) for years, providing previews of my radio shows, blues musician and related birthday bios for the week, calendars for upcoming blues (and roots) music listings in the greater DC/Baltimore area, and sometimes other noteworthy blues news
- Launched the website www.bluesandrootsmusic.com in May 2026 to make available to everyone the blues and roots music calendars, previews of my radio shows and playlists for past shows, and everything else that you see on the site today
