This week on Blues Before Sunrise, Steve Cushing turns his attention to one of the key figures of the modern Blues revival—not a performer, but a documentarian, historian, and tireless advocate: Jim O’Neal, co-founder of Living Blues magazine. Through his writing, record collecting, fieldwork, and label projects, O’Neal helped to shape how the world sees the Blues today. His work has been essential to the preservation and understanding of the music, its artists, and the culture that gave it life.

O’Neal was born and raised along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, a region where blues history and everyday life are tightly interwoven. After leaving the South to attend Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, he found himself drawn into the rich Chicago Blues scene of the late 1960s and early 1970s—a time when the clubs along the West and South Sides still vibrated with the sound of Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and Magic Sam. Surrounded by that living tradition, O’Neal joined a small circle of like-minded enthusiasts who wanted to build a bridge between the old world of the Delta and the new world of electric urban blues.

That idea became Living Blues magazine, which first appeared in 1970 and remains one of the longest-running and most respected Blues publications in the world. Co-founded by O’Neal and Amy van Singel, the magazine gave serious attention to a genre that mainstream critics often ignored or misunderstood. Its pages became a meeting ground for artists, collectors, writers, and fans—a place where musicians who had been overlooked by commercial radio or major labels could finally be heard, discussed, and documented with care.

As editor and writer, O’Neal did more than chronicle the Blues—he helped to shape its modern identity. He interviewed hundreds of musicians, from Delta legends to contemporary stylists, often traveling across the South with a tape recorder and a camera to capture their stories firsthand. Many of these interviews became foundational texts for later scholarship and liner notes. His research was as personal as it was professional: a lifelong effort to understand not just the music, but the lives of the people who made it.

In time, O’Neal expanded his preservation mission beyond the printed page. With van Singel, he founded Rooster Blues Records, a label dedicated to recording and reissuing authentic, often regionally based blues artists. Rooster Blues gave a platform to musicians like Willie King, Lonnie Pitchford, Eddie C. Campbell, and others whose styles reflected a living continuity with the roots of the tradition. O’Neal’s approach to recording mirrored his journalism—honest, grounded, and focused on the integrity of the sound and story.

This week’s Blues Before Sunrise includes a rare on-air presentation of Steve Cushing’s 2006 interview with Jim O’Neal, recorded for his Pioneers of the Blues Revival book project. Across Hours Three and Four, O’Neal speaks with characteristic warmth and precision about his early encounters with the music, the birth of Living Blues, the artists he championed, and the community that formed around the magazine and label. It’s a candid, thoughtful portrait of a man who helped define what it means to be a Blues scholar, fan, and activist.

The rest of the night’s program weaves around that theme of connection—how the music is passed from player to listener, from documentarian to generation. Early sides by Cab Calloway, June Richmond, and Julian Dash recall the swing-era sophistication that first drew young jazz-blues enthusiasts into the fold. Later hours move toward the postwar Chicago sound, the Southern grit of Robert Jr. Lockwood and Robert Nighthawk, and finally into a late-night blend of soul-jazz, T-Bone Walker, and modern groove.

And, because this weekend marks Daylight Savings Time Fall-Back, some stations will get an extra hour of Blues Before Sunrise—a welcome bonus for night owls who can’t get enough of the real thing.

From Mississippi to Chicago, from the printed page to the airwaves, this week celebrates the people who not only play the Blues but ensure it will be remembered.