From a certain perspective, blues is a dead language, for it no longer has any native speakers. There are those who pursue it in an almost academic fashion preservationists and re-enactors but almost every modern blues performer is aware they are performing with a tradition, cognizant of the genre’s history and heroes.
On April 15, 1897, 41-year-old James Henry McCaffrey of Johnston made a legal appeal for himself or some other suitable person to be appointed guardian over his nieces, Mary and Susie Morris. The …