| Contents |
Before the blues. Blues in retrospect ; Echoes of Africa ; Go down, old Hannah ; Old country stomp ; Ragtime millionaire ; Doctor medicine ; John Henry and the boll weevil ; Yonder comes the blues -- Blues, how do you do? Anticipatin' blues ; In the field ; Playing the boards ; Declassifying the classic blues ; Blues as an art form, part I: playing the blues ; The blues and black society ; Singing the blues ; Blues as an art form, part II: Expressing the blues -- Meaning in the blues. Blues and trouble ; Down the dirt road ; Black cat's bone ; Tricks ain't walkin' no more ; Jail house moan ; Let's have a new deal ; High water everywhere ; This world is in a tangle ; Blues with a feeling ; Three ball blues -- Documenting the blues. Creating the documents ; Still to be documented. |
| Abstract |
This book is based on Paul Oliver's award-winning radio broadcasts from the BBC that were created over several decades. It traces the social history of the blues in America, from its birth in the rural South through the heyday of sound recordings. Noted blues scholar Paul Oliver draws on decades of research and personal interviews with performers--some of whom he "discovered" and recorded for the first time--to draw a picture of how the blues aesthetic developed, giving new insights into the role blues played in American society before racial integration. The book begins by outlining the history of the blues before examining its origins in African music through country stomps, ragtime songs, ballads, and field hollers, and then considers the phenomenon of the blues as an African-American art and its function as an individual expression. From the heroic figures of black folksong to the content of the emerging blues, the author discusses the "meaning" behind the often coded words of the blues, tracing topics ranging from playful sexuality to magic and medicine to the stresses of segregation and commentary on national events. Finally, the author traces the history of blues documentation, showing how our views of the early blues have been shaped through a complex interplay of social forces, and indicating possible lines for future research. |
| Bibliography note | Includes discography (pages 145-170) and indexes. |
| LCCN | 2005013957 |
| ISBN | 0415971764 (hardback : alk. paper) |
| ISBN | 0415971772 (pbk. : alk. paper) |
| ISBN | 9780415971768 |
| ISBN | 9780415971775 |
