It would be a mistake to oversimplify the blues by defining the genre as nothing more than “songs about sad stuff.” Surely, like certain religions that tell us all life is suffering (and yes, that is also an oversimplification), the blues are rooted in humankind’s universal, lizard-brain responses triggered by heartache, loss, and lowered expectations. Oh, and then we get a guitar solo, or maybe some bitchin’ organ crescendos to take us to church. The blues, oversimplified.