The House of Blues Radio Hour (later The Bluesmobile) hosted by Dan Aykroyd as Elwood Blues aired on hundreds of radio stations across the US and abroad for 25 years. Now the Library of Congress will preserve nearly 2,000 radio programs created by Ben Manilla Productions (BMP.)
In the Year of the Blues, 2003, BMP also produced a 13-hour NPR series as a companion to the Martin Scorsese produced PBS series. Over the years, BMP gathered some 2,000 interviews with musicians and others telling the story of America’s original music…The Blues.
Now, we are attempting to save all these extended interviews in the Library of Congress so this important oral history can be protected for all time.
Help preserve the unedited voices of artists no longer with us:
BB King, Koko Taylor, John Lee Hooker, Brownie McGhee, Etta James, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Ray Charles, James Brown, Jimmie Rogers, Hubert Sumlin, Otis Rush, Ruth Brown, Solomon Burke, James Cotton, R.L. Burnside, Billy Boy Arnold, Little Milton, Rufus Thomas, Junior Wells, Bernard Allison, Johnny Copeland, Mose Allison, Bobby Blue Bland, Dr. John, Johnny Otis, Allen Toussaint, Wilson Pickett, Johnny Winter
…to name a few. Along with the voices of hundreds of living Blues, Rock and R&B artists
To preserve this valuable spoken archive in the Library of Congress, BMP Audio must digitize 1,000 complete interviews originally recorded on the obsolete DAT format.
BMP seeks to raise the TAX DEDUCTIBLE $20,000 necessary to complete the digitization and make the entire collection of extended conversations available to the Library of Congress. Funders will receive a mention in the Library of Congress’ press release and blog along with the knowledge they have helped preserve for all time this rich oral history of the Blues.
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