Michelle Obama tells teens at blues' lesson president didn't start at top Win Mcnamee / Getty Images Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews, Shmekia Copeland and Keb Mo perform Tuesday during an event welcoming 120 middle and high school students from across the country taking part in an interactive workshop called, "At the Crossroads: A History of the Blues in America" at the White House. First lady Michelle Obama told a group of young musicians Tuesday not to give up on their dreams, telling them the story of another young person who had to overcome obstacles before he found success. "The president didn't start out at the top either," Obama told the students, kicking off a blues music workshop in the White House's State Dining Room as part of the Obamas" celebration of the musical tradition, culminating Tuesday night with a concert featuring some of blues" biggest names like B.B. King, Mick Jagger and Jeff Beck. "It was later in life that he got a little focus, right?" she asked the crowd of mostly high school-age teens in the State Dining Room. So even if you mess up a little bit, you can get right on track. Michael Reynolds / EPA First lady Michelle Obama talks at a student workshop, 'At the Crossroads - A History of the Blues in America', Tuesday in the State Dining Room of the White House. And after he got on track, he ended up at the White House, she continued, just like the kids in the room. "That's why it is so important for me to open up these doors, to have you guys come from all over the country to sit in the same chairs that kings and queens and ambassadors and senators have sat in," she said. I want you all to believe that anything is possible for you all. In addition to the first lady's words of encouragement, the young musicians got a quick history of the blues from Bob Santelli, the executive director of the Grammy Museum who has helped direct the White House's "In Performance" series commemorating American music. He guided the students through the blues" inception in African-American folk music, to its big-city migration as rural African-Americans found work in places like Chicago, Detroit, and Newark during World War II, to its discovery by some "kids on the other side of the Atlantic" like Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton, who eventually brought it back stateside. Santelli said that the blues belongs to all Americans, regardless of one's background. "This is our music form," he said. Whether you're white or black or Native American, it's all part of the American music spirit. The students also heard from three blues musicians who offered advice before putting on a mini-performance themselves. Troy Andrews, better known as the New Orleans brass player Trombone Shorty, urged the young musicians to become versatile in the styles of music they play, because one never knows where one's next gig might come from. "You never know who's going to call you," said Andrews, who honed his craft in the "second-line" parades of New Orleans. As soon as I graduated high school, I got a call to join Lenny Kravitz's band. But because I was educating myself and learning different things, I was able to approach that music authentically because I knew a little something about it. Singer/guitarist Keb Mo, who Obama noted grew up as "little Kevin Moore" in south-central Los Angeles - performed his song "Government Cheese," a parody ode to the standard welfare fare. He then accompanied singer Shemekia Copeland, the daughter of blues guitar great Johnny Clyde Copeland, as she crooned "My Turn, Baby," a song about turning the tables on a man who's done her wrong. Finally, Trombone Shorty - who gave up Mardi Gras in his native New Orleans - got the students on their feet with a rendition of "When the Saints Go Marching In," with the brassy instrument, so frequently stuck in the backup section, front and center carrying the tune.