The Lives in Music series meshes biography with discography. This debut title profiles the legendary King of Blues, B.B. King. An opening essay charts his life from childhood in the Mississippi Delta up to his first studio session. The author then takes an inside look at his distinguished career, album by album, offering a critical appraisal of each recording and a portrait of the making of each album. First-hand interviews with B.B. King, as well as producers, engineers, arrangers, and key musicians, bring these sessions to life and provide readers a context for understanding B.B. King's reco... View More...
The Lives in Music series meshes biography with discography. This debut title profiles the legendary King of Blues, B.B. King. An opening essay charts his life from childhood in the Mississippi Delta up to his first studio session. The author then takes an inside look at his distinguished career, album by album, offering a critical appraisal of each recording and a portrait of the making of each album. First-hand interviews with B.B. King, as well as producers, engineers, arrangers, and key musicians, bring these sessions to life and provide readers a context for understanding B.B. King's reco... View More...
This book analyzes the process of composition, learning and performance of the Southern folk blues of black America. Never before has this musical form been examined so scrupulously. Evans traces the impact of commercialism, especially the phonograph record, on blues history, as well as the various local traditions that produce a given blues tune and text. The author has done extensive field work in Mississippi and provides here a structure for understanding not only the blues but almost any other oral literature from other cultures. View More...
Anthony Connor has edited countless hours of interviews with the musicians into a concise text, which consists of first person accounts. Robert Neff''s photographs complement the text.' View More...
A must for all who would more knowledgeably appreciate and better comprehend America's most popular music. -- Langston HughesThe path the slave took to 'citizenship' is what I want to look at. And I make my analogy through the slave citizen's music--through the music that is most closely associated with him: blues and a later, but parallel development, jazz... If] the Negro represents, or is symbolic of, something in and about the nature of American culture, this certainly should be revealed by his characteristic music.So says Amiri Baraka in the Introduction to Blues People, his classic wor... View More...
A must for all who would more knowledgeably appreciate and better comprehend America's most popular music. -- Langston HughesThe path the slave took to 'citizenship' is what I want to look at. And I make my analogy through the slave citizen's music--through the music that is most closely associated with him: blues and a later, but parallel development, jazz... If] the Negro represents, or is symbolic of, something in and about the nature of American culture, this certainly should be revealed by his characteristic music.So says Amiri Baraka in the Introduction to Blues People, his classic wor... View More...
A must for all who would more knowledgeably appreciate and better comprehend America's most popular music. -- Langston HughesThe path the slave took to 'citizenship' is what I want to look at. And I make my analogy through the slave citizen's music--through the music that is most closely associated with him: blues and a later, but parallel development, jazz... If] the Negro represents, or is symbolic of, something in and about the nature of American culture, this certainly should be revealed by his characteristic music.So says Amiri Baraka in the Introduction to Blues People, his classic wor... View More...
This encyclopedic work covers everything from the genesis and early history of the blues, its travel from the Mississippi Delta across the country and around the world. Each artist's life and work is detailed, accompanied by stunning photos. The early blues masters, as well as today's legends are honored in this warm-hearted and wonderful book. Truly a must have book for any lovers of America's own music View More...
A Rolling Stone-Kirkus Best Music Book of 2020 " Brother Robert} book does much to pull the blues master out of the fog of myth."--Rolling Stone An intimate memoir by blues legend Robert Johnson's stepsister, including new details about his family, music, influences, tragic death, and musical afterlife Though Robert Johnson was only twenty-seven years young and relatively unknown at the time of his tragic death in 1938, his enduring recordings have solidified his status as a progenitor of the Delta blues style. And yet, while his music has retained the steadfast devotion of modern listeners, ... View More...
A Rolling Stone-Kirkus Best Music Book of 2020 " Brother Robert} book does much to pull the blues master out of the fog of myth."--Rolling Stone An intimate memoir by blues legend Robert Johnson's stepsister, including new details about his family, music, influences, tragic death, and musical afterlife Though Robert Johnson was only twenty-seven years young and relatively unknown at the time of his tragic death in 1938, his enduring recordings have solidified his status as a progenitor of the Delta blues style. And yet, while his music has retained the steadfast devotion of modern listeners, ... View More...
Chicago has always had a reputation as a wide open town with a high tolerance for gangsters, illegal liquor, and crooked politicians. It has also been the home for countless black musicians and the birthplace of a distinctly urban blues-more sophisticated, cynical, and street-smart than the anguished songs of the Mississippi delta--a music called the Chicago blues. This is the history of that music and the dozens of black artists who congregated on the South and Near West Sides. Muddy Waters, Big Bill Broonzy, Howlin' Wolf, Elmore James, Tampa Red, Little Walter, Jimmy Reed, Otis Rush, Sonny B... View More...
Blues is the cornerstone of American popular music, the bedrock of rock and roll. In this extraordinary musical and social history, Robert Palmer traces the odyssey of the blues from its rural beginnings, to the steamy bars of Chicago's South Side, to international popularity, recognition, and imitation. Palmer tells the story of the blues through the lives of its greatest practitioners: Robert Johnson, who sang of being pursued by the hounds of hell; Muddy Waters, who electrified Delta blues and gave the music its rock beat; Robert Lockwood and Sonny Boy Williamson, who launched the King Bisc... View More...
Some stains on the cover and s few of the back page edge but nothing obstructing text. Otherwise, binding and everything is completely intact View More...
With its 1.5 million words Blur is the biggest electronic corpus of nonstandard English. The present study describes the stages in the design, the compilation, and the editing of Blur and attempts to gauge its linguistic profit. This is done both from a theoretical perspective - blues poetry vs. natural speech, representativeness, validity - and from an analytical perspective in particular qualitative, quantitative, and comparative analyses of morphological, morphosyntactic, and syntactic features. The findings indicate that Blur provides an outstandingly rich and reliable documentation of the... View More...
A noted music writer and a renowned music photographer combine to capture the essence of a unique and influential genre, with personal and telling portraits of some of the greatest blues artists of the modern era. View More...
A biography of singer/songwriter James Brown comprising interviews with the singer and the people who knew him. The book is illustrated with rare photographs and includes a comprehensive discography. View More...
Adam Gussow has lived the Blues life. By some miracle he has also lived to write about it. Whether his subject is a novel by Faulkner or the romance of buying an amp, his prose is as dynamic as a guitar solo by Stevie Ray Vaughan. Krin Gabbard, Author of Black Magic: White Hollywood and African American Culture Adam not only knows the blues...he feels it. Read this book and you will too. Shemekia Copeland This book bridges the seemingly disparate worlds of the blues bar and the college seminar as few, if any, others do eloquently arguing that blues music and blues communities can be significan... View More...
Robert Johnson, Ma Rainey, Billie Holiday, Howlin' Wolf, Bessie Smith, Muddy Waters--say their names out loud and you can just hear the blues. Now, acclaimed artist William Stout visualizes these artists and their music with 100 stunning portraits. This graphically powerful collection includes profiles of classic musicians drawn by a master illustrator. Stout beautifully captures the signature style of each blues legend and then adds authoritative biographical text with personal and humorous writing that brings it on home. Includes recommended playlists and an exclusive bonus music CD. Praise... View More...
Robert Johnson, Ma Rainey, Billie Holiday, Howlin' Wolf, Bessie Smith, Muddy Waters--say their names out loud and you can just hear the blues. Now, acclaimed artist William Stout visualizes these artists and their music with 100 stunning portraits. This graphically powerful collection includes profiles of classic musicians drawn by a master illustrator. Stout beautifully captures the signature style of each blues legend and then adds authoritative biographical text with personal and humorous writing that brings it on home. Includes recommended playlists and an exclusive bonus music CD. Praise... View More...
2011 ARSC Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research for Best History By the time of his death in 1982, Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins was likely the most recorded blues artist in history. This brilliant biography illuminates the many contradictions of the man and his myth. Born in 1912 to a poor sharecropping family in cotton country, Hopkins left home when he was eight years old with a guitar his brother had given him. This biography explores his meetings with Blind Lemon Jefferson and Texas Alexander, his time on a chain gang, his relationships with women, and his lifelong appetit... View More...
2011 ARSC Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research for Best History By the time of his death in 1982, Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins was likely the most recorded blues artist in history. This brilliant biography illuminates the many contradictions of the man and his myth. Born in 1912 to a poor sharecropping family in cotton country, Hopkins left home when he was eight years old with a guitar his brother had given him. This biography explores his meetings with Blind Lemon Jefferson and Texas Alexander, his time on a chain gang, his relationships with women, and his lifelong appetit... View More...
Illustrations by R. Crumb. A collection of lyrics and lore that captures the very heart and soul of the blues. From Blind Lemon Jefferson to Alberta Hunter, dozens of blues masters offer words of wisdom on subjects including luck (both good and bad), love, loss, and the raw material of life. View More...
More than just a history of a musical genre, Looking Up at Down traces the evolution of the various strands of blues music within the broader context of the culture on which it commented, and discusses its importance as a form of cultural resistance and identity for Afro-Americans. William Barlow explores the lyrics, describes the musical styles, and portrays the musicians and performers who created this uniquely American music. He describes how the blues sound--with its recognizable dissonance and African musical standards--and the blues text, which provided a bottom up view of American soci... View More...
A companion to the groundbreaking PBS documentary series, this volume is a unique and timeless celebration of the blues, from writers and artists as esteemed and revered as the music that moved them.Included in this stunning collection areEssays by David Halberstam, Hilton Als, Suzan-Lori Parks, Elmore Leonard, Luc Sante, John Edgar Wideman, and many others Timeless archival pieces by writers such as Stanley Booth, Paul Oliver, and Mack McCormick Evocative color illustrations and rare vintage photography Illuminating and in-depth conversations and portraits of musicians, ranging from Robert Jo... View More...
A sharecropper on a Mississippi plantation, a bootlegger, gambler, ladies' man, and dynamic blues singer and guitarist -- this biography traces the life of this legendary blues man from the 1940s to his death in 1983. Includes a complete discography.Based on original interviews conducted in Mississippi and Chicago, Muddy Waters: The Mojo Man brings together for the first time the complete record of the most famous blues man of all time. Encyclopedic in detail, this book explores Muddy's personal and musical life, including much newly discovered material about his sources, his band members, his... View More...
Like Abbeville's Country: The Music and the Musicians, Nothing but the Blues is an illustrated, comprehensive history of music and musicians, also covering promoters, producers and others who have shaped this powerful and enduringly popular American musical art form. A guide to the best discography is included at the back of the book which will appeal to blues fans and record collectors. View More...
In June of 1964, three young, white blues fans set out from New York City in a Volkswagen, heading for the Mississippi Delta in search of a musical legend. So begins Preachin' the Blues, the biography of American blues signer and guitarist Eddie James "Son" House, Jr. (1902 - 1988). House pioneered an innovative style, incorporating strong repetitive rhythms with elements of southern gospel and spiritual vocals. A seminal figure in the history of the Delta blues, he was an important, direct influence on such figures as Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson. The landscape of Son House's life and the ... View More...
Texas is the honorary home of roadhouse music, and the late Stevie Ray Vaughan its uncrowned king. More than just a biography and musical exploration of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Roadhouse Blues tells the stories of the great Texan musicians that came before him and influenced him so deeply. It puts in context Stevie Ray's rise to fame - including the part played by his family, his friends, his heroes (like Jimi Hendrix), and his addiction to drink and drugs - as well as the lasting impact that his brief but turbulent life and work had on his contemporaries, and on later generations of blues fans an... View More...
The roots of much American music lie in the intensely personal art form of the blues. What bluesmen from W.C. Handy to B.B. King have told us about their lives has shaped America's perception of the blues. These life stories provide central insights into blues music and stand as a fascinating form of narrative in their own right.Barry Lee Pearson has conducted dozens of field interviews and collected over a hundred published autobiographies to present this collective portrait of bluesmen's careers as they themselves tell them: their musical learning, communities, work, pleasures, travels, triu... View More...
