“That was all we listened to, American blues or rhythm and blues or country blues. Every waking hour of the day was just sitting in front of the speakers, trying to figure out how these blues were made….We went for the Chicago blues sound and listened to every Chess record ever made. Chicago blues hit us right between the eyes…. We didn’t think we were gonna do anything much except turn other people on to Muddy Waters and Bo Diddley and Jimmy Reed…. We were the unpaid promoters of Chicago blues.” That could be the genesis of almost any blues band in the world. But it’s the words of Keith Richards in his autobiography, Life, talking about the effect of American blues on Brian Jones, Mick Jagger, and himself in the early days of the Rolling Stones, the summer of 1962. Little did they know what their love of Blues would do to promote that music back in America. Throughout Life, Richards fires off stories which chronicle his insatiable love of the blues. A love that still rings true today as he continues to repay blues masters like Hubert Sumlin. And now, because of Life, millions of readers know of that love.
