Help Joe Kickstart the Historical Documentary “Sidemen”

A Film the World Must See

Joe Bonamassa is supporting fundraising efforts for the producers of the incredible documentary Sidemen: Long Road to Glory.

This amazing documentary film about the lives of three Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf sidemen, Pinetop Perkins, Hubert Sumlin, and Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, is completed. Those who have seen the film are ecstatic about it. It had a tremendous festival run in 2016 and audiences can’t say enough about the quality and importance of the film.

Unfortunately, the costs associated with the music rights and clearances are so high that the film is danger of never getting a real release. In order to raise the funds, a Kickstarter campaign is underway and Joe Bonamassa is helping the producers to spearhead the efforts to make sure this documentary, such a crucial historical documentation of under-recognized blues legends, gets the release that it deserves.

Anything you can contribute will help Joe in this mission that is so important to him as both a blues musician and as a lover of the blues, just like you.

Click Here to Donate & Support this Documentary!

Muddy Waters. Howlin’ Wolf. These names have long been celebrated, revered by music lovers of all stripes. Music owes an unimaginable debt to Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. But they didn’t do it alone.

Enter The Sidemen. The Sidemen are the blues names that the masses don’t know, but who are in every way just as important as the famous band leaders of the blues. Without the contributions of the sidemen – the guitars, the bass, the keys, the drums, the blues harp – electric rock and roll would never have happened. Neither would so many of the classic blues records that have become our national musical treasures? You can’t think of the records of Wolf or Waters – or multitudes of other famous blues band leaders – without the sidemen who made their sounds possible.

Sidemen: Long Road to Glory is the spectacular documentary film that explores the lives of these incredible musical masters who didn’t share the fame, glory, or wealth of the front men of the blues. It’s not just an incredibly powerful and moving film. It’s a living documentation of blues history. This film is so important because it tells tales that without it might be lost forever. Tales of the men who helped to make the blues the greatest American music, and the root of all American popular song.

The film focuses on three men in particular: guitarist Hubert Sumlin, drummer Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, and pianist Pinetop Perkins. But the story of the sideman is not exclusive to these three men – it is the tale of all men and women who have picked up a bass, a guitar, a drumstick, a saxophone – and stood behind the celebrated names of blues history.

Without your financial support, the stories of these amazing men may be lost forever. With your help, we can save a crucial piece of blues history. We can document something that has touched all of our hearts for generations and generations to come.

Thank you so much for your support in this kickstarter for Sidemen: Long Road to Glory, from Joe Bonamassa, Keeping the Blues Alive, and everyone involved in the effort to preserve blues history, from the bottom of our hearts. Long live the blues.

Click Here to Donate & Support this Documentary!