OMN's Art Levine talks deep Blues history with Chris Thomas King

The motto coined years ago by the Art Ensemble of Chicago was "Great Black Music: Ancient to the Future." If a comparable vision and range applies to anyone in the blues field, it's doubtless Chris Thomas King, the restlessly inventive and eclectic bluesman who was a headliner a while ago at the Waterfront Blues Festival and is coming this Thursday with his full band for a four-night stand at the prestigious Blues Alley in Washington, D.C. He's perhaps best known for playing Delta blues icon Tommy Johnson in the prize-winning film, O Brother, Where Art Thou? -- and his haunting version of the Skip James song "Hard Times Killing Floor" that was featured in the film and the Grammy-winning "O Brother" soundtrack album that put roots music on the map in a way not seen since the folk revival of the 1960s.