“De Visé (King of the Blues) presents a compelling, comprehensive look at how a “clean-cut teetotaling jock” and a Canadian Catholic seminary dropout became the Blues Brothers. Narrator Johnny Heller’s gritty voice is a perfect match to the rough, raucous story.This audio will appeal to listeners seeking an in-depth but accessible behind-the-scenes look at the intersection of rhythm and blues music and the rock and roll lifestyle. Recommended for fans of engaging arts and entertainment exposés, such as Nick de Semlyen’s Wild and Crazy Guys.” – Library Journal, Starred Review

“They’re not going to catch us,” Dan Aykroyd, as Elwood Blues, tells his brother Jake, played by John Belushi. “We’re on a mission from God.” So opens the musical action comedy The Blues Brothers, which hit theaters on June 20, 1980. Their scripted mission was to save a local Chicago orphanage. But Aykroyd, who conceived and wrote much of the film, had a greater mission: to honor the then-seemingly forgotten tradition of rhythm and blues, some of whose greatest artists—Aretha Franklin, James Brown, John Lee Hooker, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles—made the film as unforgettable as its wild car chases. Much delayed and vastly over budget, The Blues Brothers opened to outraged reviews; however, in the years since, it has become a classic.

The saga behind The Blues Brothers, as Daniel de Visé reveals, is epic, encompassing the colorful childhoods of Belushi and Aykroyd; the comedic revolution sparked by Harvard’s Lampoon and Chicago’s Second City; the birth and anecdote-rich, drug-filled early years of Saturday Night Live, where the Blues Brothers were born as an act amidst turmoil and rivalry; and, of course, the indelible behind-the-scenes narrative of how the film was made, scene by memorable scene. Based on original research and dozens of interviews probing the memories of principals from director John Landis and producer Bob Weiss to Aykroyd himself, The Blues Brothers illuminates an American masterpiece while vividly portraying the creative geniuses behind modern comedy.