It's not a joke; these are real blues musicians, some of them (Joe Louis Walker, Donald Kinsey, David Honeyboy Edwards, Otis Clay, Pinetop Perkins) quite well known. And yes, the blues has often had to struggle and compromise to reach a wider audience.
At its peak, the program offered up to 99 weeks of coverage. It's been scaled down gradually ever since. Two states with high unemployment, Illinois and Nevada, had offered 73 weeks of benefits. California had offered 63 weeks, and most others offered 43 to 63 weeks.
The Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC), which provided federal benefits on top of the state benefits (up to 99 weeks of benefits), has now expired and is not longer available. You can see this article for more details, but as of now only state unemployment benefits are available to the unemployed.