The life of blues legend Robert Johnson becomes the centerpiece for this innovative look at what many consider to be America's deepest and most influential music genre. Pivotal are the questions surrounding why Johnson was ignored by the core black audience of his time yet now celebrated as the greatest figure in blues history. Trying to separate myth from reality, biographer Elijah Wald studies the blues from the inside -- not only examining recordings but also the recollections of the musicians themselves, the African-American press, as well as examining original research. What emerges is a new appreciation for the blues and the movement of its artists from the shadows of the 1930s Mississippi Delta to the mainstream venues frequented by today's loyal blues fans.
What the Beatles are to rock and roll, Robert Johnson is to the blues--this title offers both a portrait of the man and his times as well as a fresh critique of the music he made.
London: Studio Vista, 1970. Palmer, Robert. Deep Blues. New York: Viking, 1981. Payne, Darwin. Dallas: An Illustrated History. Woodland Hills, CA: Windsor, 1982. Pearson, Barry Lee. Jook Right On: Blues Stories and Blues Storytellers.
Leadbelly, Robert Johnson, Charley Patton-we are all familiar with the story of the Delta blues.
This book chronicles Johnson's unconventional path to stardom, from the harrowing story behind his illegitimate birth, to his first strum of the guitar on Anderson's father's knee, to the genre-defining recordings that would one day secure ...
How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll is an alternative history of American music that, instead of recycling the familiar cliches of jazz and rock, looks at what people were playing, hearing and dancing to over the course of the 20th ...
Old flames and new ones, a rebellious teenage daughter, and her estranged father are all in Sonja's sights as her mission to save The Delta turns into a full-blown civil war and a race to protect the one person she really cares for.
Visit the author's website to see the Josh White photo gallery and learn more about Elijah Wald.
CHAPTER 7: CHANT OF THE SNAKE DANCE: THE HOPI INDIAN CHANTERS Leigh Kuwanwisiwma and E. J. Satala interviews for American Epic, 2015. M. W. Billingsley film footage, 1956. Courtesy of Verde Valley Archaeology Center.
Wald brings the story up to the present, touching on the effects of blues on American poetry, and its connection to modern styles such as rap.
As he had done with Michael and Fred Glazer in Glencoe, Roy Ruby was “coasting” on terpin hydrate. He, Charlie, and a friend from Roy's Windsor Mountain School days would purchase a few bottles of the medication and spend a pleasant ...