Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend, Ray Davies And Others Discuss How Big Bill Broonzy Sparked The British Blues-Rock Explosion In Bob Riesman's New Bio 'I Feel So Good' (Out 5/1)

New York, NY (Top40 Charts / Shore Fire Media) Through high-profile interviews and years of extensive research, Bob Riesman's 'I Feel So Good' (5/1, University of Chicago Press) traces how the often-overlooked Chicago bluesman Big Bill Broonzy inspired a musical revolution with his early trips across the Atlantic in the 1950's. Check out what Pete Townshend, Eric Clapton, Ray Davies, and others have to say about Broonzy's pioneering tours and his influence on the Brit Rock explosion:

* "A record by Big Bill Broonzy was the first Blues record I purchased," Townshend recalls in the "Appreciation" he wrote for the book. "I loved his voice, his guitar playing and his handsome face.... He was my first Blues crush."

* Eric Clapton has recorded several Broonzy songs, both as a solo artist and with Derek & The Dominos, including "Key To The Highway" and "Hey Hey." "[Broonzy] became like a role model for me, in terms of how to play the acoustic guitar," he tells Riesman in the book.

* Ray Davies once held up a Broonzy record for an interviewer and stated simply, "Without this man, I don't think I would have done what I did."

* In an interview with Q Magazine, The Rolling Stones' Ronnie Wood recalled that Broonzy's "Guitar Shuffle" was "one of the first tracks I learnt to play, but even to this day I can't play it exactly right."

With a foreword by noted music critic and historian Peter Guralnick, 'I Feel So Good' follows Broonzy's career from his rise as a nationally prominent blues star to his influential role in the post-World War II folk revival, and brings readers inside the jazz clubs and concert halls of Europe.