@onhwy61: Your Sonny Boy Williamson (no offense intended, but it’s not Williams) quote is missing a few words which are important in making his point. His statement was "The English boys want to play the Blues so bad, and that’s just how they do it." Pretty funny. By the way, as retold in the the Last Waltz film, in 1965 Williamson met and jammed with The Hawks (who of course became The Band in ’68), and he and they discussed going on a U.S.A. tour with them serving as his band. Williamson died later that year, and The Hawks went on the road with Dylan instead.
Hawks drummer Levon Helm had already met Sonny Boy, while still in high school. Helm and Sonny Boy both lived in Helena Arkansas, and Sonny would regularly appear on the local music station’s lunchtime radio show. Helm says he would buy himself a coupla donuts and a Coca Cola, eating his lunch on the floor in a corner of the radio station while watching and listening to Williamson and his band.
I loved The Yardbirds (they quickly became my favorite of the mid-60’s British bands with the release of their debut album), from whom I first heard songs like "I’m A Man" and "Train Kept A-Rollin" ( a cover of the scorching hot 1956 Rockabilly version by The Johnny Burnette Trio. Jeff Beck was a huge fan of the Burnette Band’s guitarist Paul Burlinson). The 1951 original was a Blues by Tiny Bradshaw. As I said in one Audiogon thread (maybe this one), in the South (like Elvis, Burnette lived in Memphis) musicians integrate their music.
@onhwy61: You were mocking Blues Hammer, right? That’s certainly what the Ghost World movie is doing.
Speaking of which, for those wanting to hear Blues music butchered, check out Canned Heat’s performance at Woodstock. About as bad as I’ve heard the music performed. Even worse than Blues Traveler. 
My peers and I had our musical lives seriously impacted with the hearing of the debut by The Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Playing drums and bass in the band at that time were veterans of Howlin’ Wolf’s band. Now THAT’S a Blues band! Mike Bloomfield on lead guitar, of course. That’s where Dylan heard his playing, and hired him for recordings.
In 1969 The Charles Ford Blues band (whose members included guitarist Robben Ford and his two brothers on drums and harmonica. The band’s name was a tribute to their father) relocated from Ukiah California to my hometown of San Jose. As you can imagine, that sent shock waves through the local music community. Every guitarist I new went to as many of their shows at possible, to see the Blues played by the then 18 year old Robben Ford, already a superb guitarist. The bassist in my senior year high school band played bass with them for a while, until Robben left for Los Angeles. Near the corner of Sunnyvale-Saratoga Road and Stevens Creek Blvd---the heart of the San Jose suburb Cupertino, there was a rental house where a bunch of local musicians lived. It was referred to as The Blues House.