William Ferris, director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, has written a book as deep as the blues: rich in conversation, reference, history, and firsthand experience with blues musicians and the culture that informs the music. The poetry, games, house parties, religious and secular traditions of black life in the Delta are explored in living prose that is also a work of immense scholarship.
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About the Author
William Ferris is Joel R. Williamson Eminent Professor of History and senior associate director of the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, Ferris coedited the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture and is the author of Blues from the Delta. In 1991, Rolling Stone magazine named him among the top ten professors in the United States.
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William Ferris is Joel R. Williamson Eminent Professor of History and senior associate director of the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, Ferris coedited the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture and is the author of Blues from the Delta. In 1991, Rolling Stone magazine named him among the top ten professors in the United States.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good starting point for blues history,
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This review is from: Blues From The Delta (Paperback)
Ferris's book is a well-recognized classic study of blues music. The first section, entitled "Blues Roots," provides a highly readable and interesting overview of the history of blues music, and most of Ferris's conclusions have been supported by subsequent research within the past 30 years. The second section, "Blues Composition," is a careful analysis of the various techniques for creating and performing blues music. Ferris avoids arcane ethnomusicological analysis, but he still provides readers with a good feel for the musicianship and lyricism of blues players. The final section is a presentation of a night at a blues house party, featuring lyrics, stage patter, jokes, speech play, and even some toasts by Pine Top Johnson, Floyd Thomas, Jasper Love, and Maudie Shirley. This presentation is an interesting depiction of ways in which blues music is performed in context, and it is an especially important historical documentation of an informal event held at Floyd Thomas's home in the Brickyard section of Clarksdale, Mississippi. Ferris's skill at presenting a slice-of-life portrait of a living tradition is clearly evident in this section of the book, and it's clear how he honed this type of research approach in subsequent documentary films. I also enjoyed reading this section while thinking about the recorded performances of the various blues songs that the musicians perform. The dialogue really creates a good feel for sitting in the shotgun house right along with these musicians. Although the research and the interviews were conducted in the 1960s and 70s, the book doesn't feel that dated. In fact, it is especially interesting to read the vivid accounts of Ferris's interviews with musicians like B. B. King, James "Son" Thomas, and other blues musicians during this time period. The book is also illustrated with excellent black and white photographs that portray a vivid feel for Ferris's impressions about the people and community of the musicians about whom he is writing.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
Highway 61 stretches across two hundred miles of rich black land known as the Mississippi Delta where mile-long rows of cotton and soybeans spread out from its pavement and surround occasional towns such as Lula, Alligator, Panther Burn, Nitta Yuma, Anguilla, Arcola, and Onward. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
gonner tell, gonner play, dirty little woman, teenie weenie bit, nasty little woman, blues perspective, blues verses, little red shoes, country shack, work chants, blues talk, sunny road, jook joints, night about midnight, blues performance Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Pine Top, James Thomas, Big Bill Broonzy, Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Paul Oliver, John Lee Hooker, Baby Sister, Mississippi Delta, Studio Vista, Lee Kizart, Big Boy, Jimmy Reed, Oak Publications, Screening the Blues, Tommy Johnson, Big Joe Williams, Blue Horizon, Son House, Vee Jay, Bukka White, David Evans, Kent's Alley, Arthur Lee Williams New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Highway 61 stretches across two hundred miles of rich black land known as the Mississippi Delta where mile-long rows of cotton and soybeans spread out from its pavement and surround occasional towns such as Lula, Alligator, Panther Burn, Nitta Yuma, Anguilla, Arcola, and Onward. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
gonner tell, gonner play, dirty little woman, teenie weenie bit, nasty little woman, blues perspective, blues verses, little red shoes, country shack, work chants, blues talk, sunny road, jook joints, night about midnight, blues performance Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Pine Top, James Thomas, Big Bill Broonzy, Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Paul Oliver, John Lee Hooker, Baby Sister, Mississippi Delta, Studio Vista, Lee Kizart, Big Boy, Jimmy Reed, Oak Publications, Screening the Blues, Tommy Johnson, Big Joe Williams, Blue Horizon, Son House, Vee Jay, Bukka White, David Evans, Kent's Alley, Arthur Lee Williams New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 90
books:
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48
books
cite this book:
See all 48 books citing this book
- Meaning of the Blues by Oliver on 4 pages
- Folk Beliefs of the Southern Negro by Newbell Niles PH. D. Puckett on 4 pages
- Dead Man (Canongate Crime Classics) by Jon A. Jackson on page 130 (1), page 130 (2), and page 130 (3)
- Recording the Blues by R. M. Dixon on page 130 (1), page 130 (2), and page 130 (3)
- Savannah Syncopators by P. Oliver on page 130 (1), page 130 (2), and page 130 (3)
See all 90 books this book cites
- Early Downhome Blues: A Musical and Cultural Analysis (Cultural Studies of the United States) by Jeff Todd Titon on 5 pages
- Worse than Slavery: Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice by David M. Oshinsky on 4 pages
- Blues Traveling: The Holy Sites of Delta Blues by Steve Cheseborough on page 144, page 206, and Back Matter
- Woman With Guitar: Memphis Minnie's Blues by Paul Gordon in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- Memphis Blues: Birthplace Of A Music Tradition (TN) (Images of America) by William Bearden on page 69, and Back Matter
See all 48 books citing this book
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