No American music has a richer mythology than the blues.

There’s the gripping lore surrounding blues music’s first superstar, Robert Johnson, who allegedly sold his soul to the devil at a Mississippi crossroads in exchange for his amazing musical skills.

There’s the spellbinding life of Leadbelly, who was discovered by musicologists John and Alan Lomax in Angola Prison while serving time for a stabbing. There’s the amazing journey of Muddy Waters, who learned to play in the Mississippi Delta region before migrating to the bustling city of Chicago to seek fame and fortune.

Then there are the archetypes littering the history of the blues: the deeply wounded but proficient bluesman, the immensely talented but relatively unknown player who is rediscovered late in life, and the blues master and his young protégé. The latter is what has kept the music from straying too far from its primal, pure source.

The mentor/young player relationship has occurred again and again in the music’s almost 100-year history. It was country blues phenomenon Charley Patton who taught Howlin’ Wolf his growling vocal style and helped Son House get recorded. Established bluesman Muddy Waters contributed to Buddy Guy’s break into the Chicago blues scene when the guitarist moved from Louisiana to the Windy City.

It’s an affiliation that continues today, as budding new artists seek guidance from their mentors. Some of these young acts don’t receive specific advice from their idols; they simply look at the choices those artists have made to determine their own paths.

In this issue, we look at a pair of impressive, young acts and two revered, longtime artists performing this weekend at the 23rd annual Monterey Bay Blues Festival.

Joe Bonamassa and The Homemade Jamz Blues Band reveal that blues master B.B. King, who plays the festival Sunday evening, has been instrumental in shaping their burgeoning careers. These two new acts also could look at the struggles and successes of Taj Mahal and Bettye LaVette to help them become blues masters themselves.