If the purpose of this space is to point you in the direction of the best Web sites of interest to the working musician (and it is), then may I say: this month I've outdone myself. The Austin, Texas — based Big Road Blues (www.bigroadblues.com) is a veritable encyclopedia of the music, covering every possible aspect of the blues with style, love, and good humor. Big Road's news section is a compendium of the most recent blues-related happenings, with enough stories, essays, and gig information to keep you glued to your screen for hours.

That's just the beginning. The site also presents galleries of photos and paintings (with links to the artists' sites), a discussion forum, a chat room, and a nice collection of links. Of more practical value are the educational materials offered — online slide guitar and blues harp lessons, free classified ads, and a band promo section where blues groups and solo artists can post information about themselves for no charge.

The site also solicits blues CDs for review and is on the lookout for reviewers, so if you'd like to boot up your word processor and give the poor music critics a run for their money, here might be your chance. The site's editor, Brian Robertson, collaborated with illustrator R. Crumb a few years back on something called The Little Blues Book. Robertson is a fine and perceptive writer and editor; the excerpts from his book and other historical and philosophical writings on the site are reason enough to give Big Road Blues a look.