Anyone can be a bona fide blues artist it's not where you hail from it's how you got there and how do you feel about it all. That's basically what I am trying to get accross. The reason for this is down to some of the looks I get when I say that I play the blues, not a frown not a smile but a kind of half smiling vacant look that says "yeah OK white boy".

Even though Not only white but English and from my neck of the woods guitarists such as Eric "Clapton is god" Clapton and Peter "Peter Green is God" Green. As they both where known as in the sixties. There are many more but right there are arguably the two greatest blues guitarists/vocalists that ever walked the planet and on a personal note Peter Greens voice gives me chills every time I hear it. So should I be taken seriously people. Well one thing I know is I've had it many times harder than the pair of them though it wasn't all roses for them I admit. So I'm probably more qualified in the trials and tribulations department and I have been playing the guitar although not constantly since I was thirteen and I am now a youthful forty and I am currently wearing a bandage and tube grip on my wrist and can't play for two weeks purely because I have been on an intense learning curve to get the most from my studio time and because I absolutely love to play the blues. So I think I have the dedication thing down. I know what you are thinking. "still doesn't mean you are any good though". 

and you'd be absolutely right after all I May be tone deaf for all you know. 

I assure you I am not tone deaf in fact I'm not too distantly related to the late Sir Michael Tippet you conducted and composed for the London philharmonic Orchestra. He was known for being avant garde in his works and championed those less fortunate than he even to the point of being incarcerated at her majesties pleasure. (the same majesty that knighted him.