Winners of this blog’s first Blues Lyric Contest are suitably troubled — and all get Wynton Marsalis and Willie Nelson Play the Music of Ray Charles DVDS to ease their weary minds. All have expressed regrets they can’t get to  Jazz at Lincoln Center concerts of Wynton and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra celebrating for Mary Lou Williams’ centennial or  alto saxist Maceo Parker, so sadly those tix go wanting. But that’s the blues for ya. . .Â
Blues lyrics: write to win
For tickets to Jazz at Lincoln Center this weekend or a dvd of Wynton Marsalis and Willie Nelson performing live, try writing a blues. How hard can it be?
“Minutes seem like hours, hours seem like days,
Seems my baby would stop her lowdown ways” — Muddy Waters, “Country Blues”
 “Woke up this morning, looked ’round for my shoes
You know I had those mean old walkin’ blues” — Robert Johnson, “Walkin’ Blues”Â
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“Whoa, oh tell me baby
Where did ya stay last night? An’ why don’t ya hear me cryin’?
Whoo hoo, whoo whoo,Â
Whoo who. . . ” — Howlin’ Wolf, “Smokestack Lightning”