I think that gets back to the question of what alive is. To me alive is people enjoying deep meaningful music. To others it means being played on the radio incessantly.I haven't heard Skip James, Son House or Robert Pete Williams played on the radio except on a specialty show …ever! But I have heard SRV ..in fact it's hard to avoid hearing him. Joe Bonamassa is getting a lot of air with even having full length concerts broadcast on tv multiple times. Possibly your question is… when will blues music be in vogue again. I say when the next blues man falls out of the sky who is over the top good…. Joe Bonamassa is gathering a good following.
I don't think that blues music has ever been "the thing" in my lifetime although blues based music was very popular with the British invasion in the 60's and 70's.
As far as radio play…I think that the sirius radio blues stations are quite popular. I think what we are experiencing is that the masses will listen to whatever is on the radio… I mean, classic rock is the same 100 songs nationally played over and over again. I like classic rock..but I can't stand a classic rock station. It's like the worst music of the 60's and 70's…the "Hits". Led Zeppelin is still widely loved… and they aren't likely to make a comeback…. but then they are blues based too. Just my opinion