They didn't make any concessions to popular demands and they introduced a huge number of people to music that might not ever have been heard otherwise. Whether or not they really made that much of a difference is not something we can ever tell, but what I did learn from this DVD, aside from who the hell the were, is that those three white boys from Minnesota could and still can really play the blues.
The picture and sound quality on Blues, Rags & Hollers fluctuates to say the least. But of course a lot was dependant on the source material, which was accumulated from old television shows, videos, four and eight track analog recordings from thirty years ago, and some contemporary interviews. An obvious effort has been made to clean up the sound where it can be, but there's not much that can be done with old black & white television footage.
The special feature on this disc is footage taken from the best of their television gigs. This is where you can see how natural and good these three men were at playing the music that first brought them together in the early 1960's. Watching them play is a reminder of how sometimes simple is better, and that the blues are the blues no matter what the colour of your skin.
Blues, Rags & Hollers: The Koerner, Ray & Glover Story is a great tribute to three fine musicians who might have fallen through the cracks of memory without it. For that reason alone it is well worth watching, and their story of them and their love of music will make you doubly glad you did.
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