Sorry, I got to point this out. Although further developed in Chicago, The blues roots lie down the Mississippi into the South, represented here as New Orleans. Blues, traditionally thought of as “the Devil’s music”, is instead embraced in this song as something wonderful, the source of salvation through suffering. Reference to California, of course is the continuation of blues music through Texas into California, T-bone Walker for example.
But ask any old bluesman - Gospel is a competing force with Blues.
Sorry, I got to point this out. Although further developed in Chicago, The blues roots lie down the Mississippi into the South, represented here as New Orleans. Blues, traditionally thought of as “the Devil’s music”, is instead embraced in this song as something wonderful, the source of salvation through suffering. Reference to California, of course is the continuation of blues music through Texas into California, T-bone Walker for example. But ask any old bluesman - Gospel is a competing force with Blues.