What brought a Grammy-winning blues legend to China?

He has played with some of the biggest names in music — from The Rolling Stones to Bob Dylan and Prince. But for Grammy-winning blues harmonica virtuoso Sugar Blue, one of his most unexpected musical discoveries happened in China.

He says music needs no translation. Blues and traditional Chinese music may come from different worlds, but both can travel "straight to the heart.'

And China holds a special meaning for him. After discovering the Chinese hulusheng, an ancient free-reed instrument closely connected to the family of instruments that eventually gave rise to the harmonica, Sugar Blue found a new connection between his own instrument and Chinese musical tradition.

After a lifetime of playing across cultures, his story is also a reminder: Sometimes music takes us farther than language ever could.