The Blues Cruise

We produced our first blues festival at sea in 1991 and for the next decade continued to present the finest blues artists on the S/S Norway and Queen Elizabeth 2. We were able to hire our favorite artists and get to know them fairly well over the years and this familiarity enabled me to take photographs at close range and even arrange to do formal portraits on occasion. I regret missing some great performers who were active in the last decades of the century, but, strange as it might sound, some of the best were terrified of the sea and ships. These men and women were by no mean C.C. Riders.  I once heard Big Bill Broonzy described the song as being about people who were riding on the sea, as in "Sea Sea Rider." I'm glad there were many who weren't afraid.