First Time We Met the Blues | Ph.D. David Williams

David Williams grew up in Epsom, Surrey and was a childhood friend of future Led Zeppelin guitar legend, Jimmy Page. Together they discovered what was for them an intriguing and very different kind of music: the blues. As their interest grew into a passion, they befriended other teenage enthusiasts - among them Brian Jones, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards - becoming part of a movement that ultimately brought about the '60s rock revolution. Part-biography, part-history, "The First Time We Met The Blues" is packed full of great anecdotes and unique insights into the early British blues scene, Page's formative years as a musician, the beginnings of the Rolling Stones, and much more besides. It culminates with a detailed account of a momentous expedition by van from London to Manchester to see the American Folk-Blues Festival in October 1962 - the first time ever that Williams and his friends had an opportunity to see legendary American bluesmen like T-Bone Walker, Willie Dixon and John Lee Hooker in action - and an assessment of its far-reaching aftermath.