By Manny Randhawa/MLB.com Associate Reporter

(Below is an excerpt; click “Read More” link to see full article at MLB.com)

CHICAGO — Carlos Johnson has been playing the blues in Chicago for more than 40 years, and he says the secret to the popularity of the genre — which originated in the South — is the expression of deep suffering that permeates its roots.

“[Blues music] was kind of adaptable because coming from the South there was not a lot of opulence for African-Americans,” said Johnson during a break between sets at the Buddy Guy’s Legends blues bar. “So when we got here, we basically had the same thing — but just on a higher level.

“The level of struggle and pain and indifference was still there, so the music developed that. Any time you’re in a social environment and you’re doing anything, it absorbs you.”  Read More