When you grow up in a family where your father is known as Lil’ Howlin’ Wolf, the chances are pretty good that you may end up as a bluesman. If you come of age on Chicago's Southside and your band is forced to practice in the basement laundry room of the projects, you may end up as a bluesman. But when childhood memories include your dad taking you by the hand into some of the Windy City's most legendary bars and you witness B.B. King live for the first time at the Burning Spear on State Street, damn you have to be a bluesman!

I miss Willie Dixon. I had the tremendous good fortune to sit and talk with him on several occasions during the 1980's, and he never failed to amaze, entertain and enlighten me. During those years you couldn't go into a Southern California club, blues venue or attend a music festival without seeing the man surrounded by an entourage of adoring friends and fans.

Primer has been amazingly productive over the years; he's recorded and toured with everyone from Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon to Junior Wells and James Cotton. I lost track of the number of albums he's listed on at around 87 or 88. John just smiles at me "probably more than that." From a sharecropping family to a legendary blues man, John Primer is the real deal so we started our conversation with his first instrument.

James Cotton was born into a Mississippi farming family in the middle of the summer, 1935. As the youngest of eight children, his prospects in the Tunica cotton fields held few opportunities beyond hauling water buckets for laborers or endless hours on a plantation tractor seat in the sweltering Delta sun.

Luther Tucker loved the blues. Born in Memphis in 1936 his path in life seemed pre-destined when he moved to Chicago in the early 1940s. His mother played piano and she would eventually introduce young Luther to some of Chicago’s most legendary bluesmen.

Right now we’re all chomping at the bits to see the rivers and oceans; mountains and forests; cities, towns and villages; and the cultural ramifications and history of our sacred nation. It’s just a matter of time. So, until then, here is the T-Boy Society of Film and Music poll devoted to domestic bucket list destinations.

It’s been almost 30 years now since I ran into Carey Bell. He was touring through Europe and was gracious enough to sit down and talk for awhile about his friends, his life in music and the road he travelled. He was a remarkable talent and genuinely funny human being.