Buffalo Nichols

After years of watching white artists and fans dominate a genre pioneered by Black people, artists like Buffalo Nichols are trying to bring the music they love back to its roots.

Nichols is unapologetically blunt when he discusses the way the music he loves has become disconnected from its cultural roots. Nichols is rattled by what the traditional blues scene has become.

“So much damage has already been done that getting somebody under 35 to even consider listening to the blues is such a struggle,” he says. “From where I’m sitting, there’s a lot of great potential, but the potential is limited by the old guard, all the older white guys who have been doing it. They’ve ruined it for everybody else. And they’re still there and they’re still taking up way too much space, and they’re still making terrible music.”