Henry Townsend, who first arrived in St. Louis and began playing guitar in the mid- 1920s, was an integral part of the St. Louis blues scene during its formative years. Three-quarters of a century later, Townsend is the last remaining link to the early blues world of St. Louis. This enchanting oral history recounts Townsend's early days as a shoeshiner fronting for a bootlegging operation, his passion for the guitar ('the sound of that guitar just went through me, just penetrated me like a bullet'), and his collaborations and friendships with many of the musicians and entrepreneurs who shaped the blues scene in St. Louis. Through Townsend's easy reminiscences, the guitarist Lonnie Johnson, the pianists Walter Davis and Roosevelt Sykes, and the promoter Jessie Johnson come vividly to life, along with scores of other individuals both remembered and forgotten who left their mark on a key musical genre.Touching on important social aspects of St. Louis life, from racism and police harassment to honky-tonk speakeasies, "A Blues Life" offers a personal and often moving commentary on music and culture in the city. Townsend recounts that in the 1920s, St. Louis' Booker T. Washington Theater brought in famous acts like Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Peg Leg Bates, but very few local blues artists ever appeared there. While middle-class blacks regarded jazz as on the border of respectability, the blues were far over the line, and especially the raw, 'gut bucket style blues' that he says set St. Louis blues apart from the styles developing in Chicago, Kansas City, and Mississippi. A living legend, Townsend is still active as a performer and a recording artist. His story is a priceless first-hand account of a world long gone, even as his music-making continues to influence a new generation of St. Louis blues artists.
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He talks freely without regret or shame about a life that often, like the music he created, went over the line. -- CHOICE April, 2000
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A friend of Henry Townsend,
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This review is from: A Blues Life (Music in American Life) (Hardcover)
Everyone interested in Henry Townsend will be interested in a great friend of his, Howard "Sonny" Robertson, another Saint Louis bluesman, currently living in Ohio. The first volume of his autobiography, When Sonny Gets Blue, is now available on CD: [...]
4 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
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A GREAT BOOK FOR ANY BLUES LOVER!,
By Scott Elfwood (Chicago,IL) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Blues Life (Music in American Life) (Hardcover)
This book is about the life of Blues Legend, Henry Townsend. It gives a vibrant touch to his life before his around the world music playing days and during. Henry and Bill show us how it feels to be a Blues Legend and how to learn how to go at a career as a bluesman, Henry and Bill has wrote a masterpiece in itself. And I and hopefully others hope that this masterpiece will be followed with another. You can Find his cds on this amazon.com and others. "The 88' Blues" can be found in St.Louis and blueberry hill.com
3 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
MASTERPIECE!,
By Scott Elfwood (Chicago,IL) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Blues Life (Music in American Life) (Hardcover)
Henry did a great job on this book. It truly describes is life as he only knows it. It is great I came out to St.Louis in October 98 and this pass weekend for his 90th at WEBSTER UNIVERSITY 10/29/30/99 IS DATE AND A CLUB CALLED BB'S JAZZ BLUES AND SOUPS MILLIONS OF PEOPLE LOVE Henry and his Music. A billiant man! Judy west
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
Shelby, Mississippi, is where we originated from. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
very good hustle, good piano player Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Walter Davis, Sonny Boy, Roosevelt Sykes, Henry Townsend, Big Joe, Lonnie Johnson, Jesse Johnson, Market Street, Biddle Street, Peetie Wheatstraw, Henry Brown, Rice Miller, Son Ryan, Future City, Bill Greensmith, Lee Green, Pete Bogans, Grand Central, Joe Dean, Red Mike, Wesley Wallace, Blues Life, Booker Washington Theatre, Clifford Gibson, Oliver Cobb New!
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Shelby, Mississippi, is where we originated from. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
very good hustle, good piano player Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Walter Davis, Sonny Boy, Roosevelt Sykes, Henry Townsend, Big Joe, Lonnie Johnson, Jesse Johnson, Market Street, Biddle Street, Peetie Wheatstraw, Henry Brown, Rice Miller, Son Ryan, Future City, Bill Greensmith, Lee Green, Pete Bogans, Grand Central, Joe Dean, Red Mike, Wesley Wallace, Blues Life, Booker Washington Theatre, Clifford Gibson, Oliver Cobb New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
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21
books
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- Conversation with the Blues CD included by Paul Oliver in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Sinful Tunes and Spirituals: BLACK FOLK MUSIC TO THE CIVIL WAR (Music in American Life) by Dena J. Epstein in Back Matter
- The Creation of Jazz: Music, Race, and Culture in Urban America (Blacks in the New World) by Burton W. Peretti in Back Matter
- Joe Scott, the Woodsman-Songmaker (Music in American Life) by Edward D. Ives in Back Matter
- Traveling the High Way Home: Ralph Stanley and the World of Traditional Bluegrass Music (Music in American Life) by John Wright in Back Matter
See all 71 books this book cites
- What's the Use of Walking When There's a Freight Train Going Your Way?: Black Hoboes and Their Songs by Paul Garon on 6 pages
- Blues: The Basics by Dick Weissman on page 167
- "MAXIMUM CLARITY" AND OTHER WRITINGS ON MUSIC by Ben Johnston in Back Matter
- My Lord, What a Morning: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY (Music in American Life) by Marian Anderson in Back Matter
- Henry Cowell, Bohemian (Music in American Life) by Michael Dustin Hicks in Back Matter
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