And while it is new for rockers, it's not new for entertainers in general. Many of those blues and jazz artists continued to perform into their 80s and 90s. And when I say they performed I mean they were touring for 2/3s of the year. When B. B. King was alive, you could point to any day on the calendar and he was likely to be on the road.
Jerry Lee Lewis married all of his teenaged cousins and killed all of his wives and he was still on the road until his stroke last month. He's 83. The guy had to cancel shows when the stroke happened.
In their youth, these people spent so much time away from their families that they don't feel comfortable "at home." They don't have those community or relationship bonds that we have. They want to die on the road, if they had their druthers.
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