The blues had a child and they called it rock and roll. But it's impossible to look past the parent when so much unbridled talent has and continues to contribute to this increasingly popular music form. This Blues. So much feeling. So much mood. So well captured. You can feel the soul stirring in 20 stunning photo-biographies featuring Muddy Waters, T-Bone Walker, B. B. King, Memphis Minnie, John Lee Hooker, plus 17 more. Each of their works--their rise to fame--is eloquently captured in every mini-biography. Look at all the stories, from the blues' slavery beginnings through the strains that sparked rock and roll. Then hear it smoldering in the 10-song accompanying CD designed to heighten this unequaled collection.
Charles K. Cowdery is the author of BOURBON, STRAIGHT: The Uncut and Unfiltered Story of American Whiskey (Made and Bottled in Kentucky, 2004). He writes about American whiskey for The Malt Advocate, WHISKY Magazine and other publications; and is editor and publisher of The Bourbon Country Reader, the only publication dedicated exclusively to American whiskey. He is a Kentucky Colonel (Patton, 206) and a member of the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame (2009).
Online, Cowdery blogs about American whiskey and other subjects at The Chuck Cowdery Blog (chuckcowdery.blogspot.com).
Cowdery's first contribution to broader bourbon awareness and understanding was the public television documentary "Made and Bottled in Kentucky," which he wrote, produced and directed for the commonwealth's bicentennial celebration in 1992. That production was underwritten by grants from Kentucky Educational Television and the Kentucky Distillers Association.
As a marketing professional, Cowdery has worked in and around the beverage alcohol industry for more than 30 years, including nine as a Kentucky resident. During that part of his career, he worked on major marketing projects for Brown-Forman, Beam Global and Diageo.
A resident of Chicago since 1987, Cowdery is a freelance journalist, marketing copywriter, scriptwriter, and attorney-at-law. His other book is Blues Legends (Gibbs Smith, 1995), which profiles 20 notable blues musicians. He does speaking appearances on both subjects, bourbon and blues.
Born and raised in Mansfield, Ohio, Cowdery has a B.S. degree from Miami University (Oxford, Ohio) and a J.D. from the DePaul University School of Law (Chicago, Illinois).
