If the blues musicologists are credible, this genre was the mighty forefather of nearly every other original North American musical form. (I'm sure that statement will generate heat for a cold winter's night!) Arguably, the half tones and twisted chords of the blues--those "blue notes"--are precursors of jazz and dixie's unique sounds.

What strikes me as equally interesting is the notion that blues profoundly shaped Southern gospel, rockabilly, and bluegrass music. This is the music of The Dixie Chicks, Dolly Parton, the Stattler Brothers and Elvis Presley. It is the music of the White South! What have these music genres to do with slaves and share-croppers on the Mississippi Delta?

The argument for Black Blues' extensive paternity rests on both its sounds and unconventional rhythms. Take a talkin' blues beat. Speed up the tempo and--presto! Rock'n'roll? Maybe rockabilly? More credibly, add the half-tone harmonics from blues to Wesleyan hymns and you get Southern gospel. Play this gospel music at top speed. What do you get? Bluegrass! (Sounds like it may need a doctoral dissertation for a clear and convincing case.)

And what about the moods, tones, and themes? What is the logical bridge between upbeat, happy, rock and the downbeat, doleful, blues? Aren't these just opposites? Where's the bridge?

If I was a lawyer, I'd go for the blues paternity suit. But in this yin-yang world, there's good mixed with every bad and a happy for every sad. I like a blues family tree, first, because it properly credits Black musicians as the fathers of North American pop and rock.

In the fifties, radio stations across the USA Black listed this music because it was too ethnic. This was one simple euphemism for exclusion based on race. But the British Invasion made rock so very respectable in polite, White, society. And, suddenly, rock's ancestry was forgotten in a pale memory fog. No handshake. In some cases, not even a nod. We've all heard the stories of royalties lost by original Black songwriters. (After all, child support works only one way. Right?)

The truth lies somewhere between paternity and human nature. Everything has origins. But healthy growth is possible only when there is balance. It's true of racial groups, as well as individuals. It's true of musical genres and individual artists.

At a time when slaves were singing bluesy lamentations, they also sang of joy and hope. Their spirituals trumpet Good News De Chariot's Comin'! Even the desperate and sad need the equilibrium of joy and gladness.

For poor Ozark mountain miners and squatters, harmony was expressed by gospel songs. Pride came at the edge of a banjo pick or from the gloss of a flat top guitar. And the grinding drudgery of daily existence was matched only by the reeling, quick-time, sounds of Bluegrass. It was a shared cultural reaction just as surely as blues in the Delta.

Winter's long days can't last. Jerusalem Ridge and bluegrass will bridge the seasons! On February 28 balance will be restored.