I needed to get out of the house. The walls felt like they were closing in. So Saturday I hit the road.
I decided to explore a little of the countryside of the Willamette Valley off the Interstate 5 corridor. So I headed for McMinnville and plugged the iPod into the car stereo. While on my Saturday drive I found myself also exploring a touch of the blues music scene of Portland and the Northwest by listening to a podcast I'd downloaded called PDX Bluescast.
I've long enjoyed blues music, but am far from an expert on the genre. I know enough about it to hear its influences in other musical genres like rock, country, jazz and, of course, R&B. But I don't have an extensive blues collection. And to be honest, other than the Waterfront Blues Festival, which I got a chance to attend a few years ago on a visit back to Oregon from California, I didn't realized that Portland had a major blues scene. I'm just dipping my toe into that water.
One of the things I like about the PDX Bluescast is that on the accompanying Web site, you don't have to write notes about the songs and musician you are hearing, because you can go back to the Web site and get those details. I've already discovered a couple of artists and albums I may want to check out. And I've learned that there is a blues song about the small Eastern Oregon town of Baker City. Who would have guessed?
I don't know if the PDX Bluescast site qualifies as a blog, but I've added it to my Blogroll anyway.
As for what I saw on my little road trip? Well, maybe that's a topic for another post.
iPod
Podcast
Blues music
PDX Bluescast
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