Part of the World Music Network Rough Guides series, the album contains two discs: an overview of the contemporary scene on Disc One, primarily featuring American artists, and a "bonus" Disc Two highlighting Malian Samba Touré (a reference to the commonalities between the American Blues and West African music).

The compilation was produced by Phil Stanton, co-founder of the World Music Network.

[1] Curation was performed by Nigel Williamson, a music journalist and author of the book The Rough Guide to the Blues.

[2] The term "blues revival" refers to the resurgence of the genre after the success of Stevie Ray Vaughan.

[3] Jim Allen of AllMusic took issue with the title (claiming the genre "never went away") but named it a "pretty accurate sonic snapshot of the contemporary blues scene".