"How Do You Define the Blues?"

I'm asked this question so often, I thought I'd answer it here. To me, blues is music that lifts you up without lying to you. It doesn't ask you to believe anything you can't feel. It takes you outside yourself without disrespecting any aspect of your life. And when it's right, when "everything comes together," it takes you to that place where you realize -- sometimes quite suddenly -- that the music is listening. Sun Ra called it "outer space." Others might call it some kind of mythocratic transformation. You don't have to call it anything. Why argue about it, when you can go there right now?