Customer Reviews

Deep Blues: A Musical And Cultural History of the Mississippi Delta

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Palmer's love of the blues shines through in this exceptional book. He's not interested in showing off his knowledge of the form (although that knowledge is exceptional); he's interested in illuminating for the reader the roots of a great indigenous art form and how that form developed in the 20th century. In that effort, he succeeds masterfully.

A fine early section explores how the music that we call the blues was seeded in N. America by African music. That chapter is a mini-history lesson in itself; Palmer shows how the music of slaves from W. Africa was viewed as subversive and dangerous by whites in the new land.

The remainder of the book is chock full of portraits of the heroes of early blues in the Mississippi Delta, from Charley Patton to Son House to Robert Johnson to Little Walter to Muddy Waters and beyond. Palmer shows how these men developed a music that grew directly out of the soil of the Delta, making do with the instruments they had and often living itinerant lives, moving from tiny town to tiny town to play dances and juke joints to keep the music alive.

The book also describes the historic migration of African-Americans from the Deep South to the industrial cities of the North, most importantly, of course, Chicago, where the musicians transformed the blues again, creating the electrified sounds that exerted such a powerful influence on white rock musicians from London to Liverpool to La Jolla, California.

Palmer has given us a great work with "Deep Blues," one that should be read by students of music and social history alike. It deserves a prominent place on the bookshelf of any serious lover of music.

Palmer's book was my introduction to the blues and I'm very glad of it because it's so wide and deep (like varying parts of the Mississippi River). You read this, you get the big picture story of the Delta Blues, how the music migrated to Chicago and other big cities and why it's so important to so much great music that came after it. It begins with musical historian Alan Lomax's fruitless search for Robert Johnson and ends with an older Muddy Waters, successful and wealthy, reflecting on his amazing journey. In between, we meet all the other players in Delta Blues, learn how the genre sprang up and see how it was adopted and copied wholesale by a slew of successful British and American rock 'n' rollers. Palmer never talks down to the reader but keeps his prose lively enough to entertain and educate a person with knowledge of the blues yet accessible enough to teach a neophyte. I find I come back to this book often to flesh out details of stories or anecdotes I've read elsewhere.

There's no other way to put it, this is simply the best book out there on the blues both as a music form and as force in shaping American culture. At once simple and concise, yet broad and in depth enough to tell a very complete story, this one work should satisfy everyone from the novice to the experienced blues fan.

Meticulously researched, Palmer uses Muddy Waters as a jumping off point to explore the history and evolution of the blues as music as well as the society and culture from which it sprang. He peppers his work with amazing anecdotes, from the story of Robert Johnson, the Band meeting a dying Sonny Boy Williamson, an aging Howlin' Wolf giving a phenominal concert that add color to his story and helps make his frequent forays into musicology more tolerable to the non-musician. Best of all is the sense of time and place the book evokes, from plantations and dark swamps in rural Mississippi, to the noisy, crowed streets of South Chicago at the peak of the Great Migration, to small clubs and long forgotten juke-joints.

I read this book for the first time 10 years or so ago and have probably reread it 5 times since. I keep coming up with new things to admire about the book every time. That so much richness can be packed into such a short readable work is amazing. This book triumphs over everything else written on the subject and only leaves you wanting to explore further.

Robert Palmer's DEEP BLUES is a great & encyclopedic work on the blues. A resident of New Orleans for the last few years of his life, he was a close neighbor and friend of John Sinclair, poet, d.j., and the original artistic director of the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival. Both men had similar passions for the blues and all jazz-related music and relocated to the Crescent City for the reason that, in Ernie K-Doe's words, "I'm not sure, but I'm almost certain, that all music came from New Orleans." Palmer relied heavily upon original interviews and interviews conducted by other researchers, and DEEP BLUES reflects a directness and authenticity cross-pollinated by great musical erudition that includes not only the birthplace of the blues, but also its ancestry in Africa. This authenticity inspired another artist whose passion for the gut-level honesty of the blues became part of his own aesthetic. While reading and taking notes from DEEP BLUES, John Sinclair noticed that his jottings took the form of short-lined verses, and that the words of the musicians he loved had the impact of poetry. It was almost as if their words surpassed the poetry of the songs themselves. John fashioned some into poems. Later, upon meeting Palmer, he asked for permission to go further. It's a measure of the generosity of Robert Palmer, his love of the music, and the incredible heart that beats in the passages of DEEP BLUES, that he gave Sinclair the green light. John Sinclair's masterwork, FATTENING FROGS FOR SNAKES: DELTA SOUND SUITE (Surregional Press, 1999) owes its birth to Robert Palmer's own magnum opus.

I read this wonderful book here in Canberra, Australia's national capital, far far away from the Delta. It was hard to put it down. But I did so just long enough to revisit favourite blues tracks by The Masked Marvel [aka Charley Patton] and Henry [Texas]Thomas...so evocative was Palmer's text that their voices crossed the decades and brought me to tears. Palmer surmounts the tyranny of time and distance and brings the Delta and its music to life for me on the other side of the world. My Road Atlas of the USA is open in front of me...Clarksdale here I come.

Phil Teece Canberra Australia

I thought I knew a lot about Delta Blues, but after reading this book I realized I didn't know squat about the roots of the only true American Music . Blues is the only music created in the United States from music brought from all over the world. I loved this book so much I just finished reading it a second time and will probably read it again and write notes that I want to remember from the book. Do your self a big favor if you like Blues music, Buy this book.

Robert Palmer's book "Deep Blues" is nothing short of an anthropological journey to find the genesis of the blues. He does an excellent job of highlighting the various early popular bluesmen, men such as Tommy Johnson, Charlie Patton, and Robert Johnson. He details life working on the plantations of the deep south, life on a Saturday night living it up in the various juke joints of the south, and the personal lives of early blues singers which led to the creation of the blues, and by extension, American music as we have come to know it.

The book begins by going back to the western coast of Africa, where the slave trading occurred, and Palmer details very well the oral music traditions of people from the various tribes and countries, presenting styles which could be found in the music of the eastern and southern United States from the late 19th and on into the early 20th Century. He highlights, in great detail, the sounds and how they were made in the mouth by particular tribes in Africa, and in what areas of the country and these sounds began showing up performed in field hollers done by workers on plantations throughout the south. I do not use the word anthropological lightly, as Robert Palmer does a magnificent job of highlighting the blues tradition from it's specific oral traditions in Africa, to it's nascent phase in the early 20th Century, to Muddy Waters' time in the Delta on up through his success in Chicago, to Sonny Boy Williamson's King Biscuit Time radio show and beyond.

Various interviews abound from people and relatives of the blues musicians and by articles from early periodicals detailing their lives, so by the end of the book one really feels as though we were on the freight car with Robert Johnson traveling and avoiding the hellhound on his trail.

A book for anyone who truly loves the blues. Being a book just shy of 300 pages however, only so much detail can be given, which is why this will probably not be the last book on the blues I own. 4 1/2 stars.

Wow, what a thrilling experience.Probably the best music video documentary to ever come around in the early 90s and the book also is a worthwhile investment.----This is what the REAL blues is all about and it doesn't get any better than this road trip into the Mississippi Hill territory where some of the most obscure but noteworthy musicians did exist. Alot of the artists featured like R.L. Burnside, Jnr Kimbrough,Lonnie Pitchford,Roosevelt "Booba" Barnes, Booker.T Laury,Napoleon Strickland have since 1992 sadly passed away but this film still serves a great purpose. Thanks to the well informed and much missed Robert Palmer( who himself died in 1997) and ex-Eurythmics artist Dave Stewart we have a glimpse of what blues must've sounded like (and looked like) back in the days of Charley Patton. Robert Palmer explains about the philosophical side of the Blues, the good luck potions(e.g.Mojo Hand, John the Conqueror Root ) and takes Dave Stewart through the streets from where American music grew up. It's a truly fascinating trip and Robert Palmer's humility and deep appreciation shows just how genuine a person he truly was.
Most of the artists featured were known to have recorded for the extraordinary 'Fat Possum' label, a label that deals with every type of no holds barred music from punk and surging rock'n'roll to the most primitive,disturbing & spooky sounding Blues. The inclusion of the Fife & Drum snippet on the DVD is wonderful and reminds one of the ancient songs of the Fra-Fra Tribesmen (the true roots of the Blues). Jesse Mae Hemphill is shown as being down to earth, no pretense at all and this goes for everyone else on this remarkable film/book.On the DVD some of the artists are suitably stoned as are the audience present at the crowded and seedy Blues clubs . Some musicians play a semi-tone away from the rest of the band, song meters are avoided at all cost by artists like Jnr. Kimbrough. Some artists like the bug eyed Roosevelt"Booba" Barnes are completely manic and seem on a never ending high. Booba sounds like Magic Sam on acid. The equipment probably came from a pawn shop but the end result is a raw, gritty excursion into the basis of rock and roll. Hound Dog Taylor would've looked great also on this video if he had still been around in 1992.
Check out the c.ds of these artists on the Fat Possum label.
If you think that Blues music stops with B.B. King and his gold rings or Clapton and his Versace suit & Alfa Romeo then this IS the book/video for you as it will educate you to the fullest degree.

From the steamy cotton fields of Mississippi, to the mean streets of Chicago and beyond, the history of the blues mirrors that of African American society in the 20th century. Respected music writer, historian, and record producer Robert Palmer traces the history of the music that begat every other form of American popular music in rich detail, blending first-hand accounts, interviews, and historical narrative into a seamless, eminently readable and enjoyable historical work of great importance. This book should be required reading for highschool history students, fans of popular music, and anyone who enjoys engrossing and entertaining non-fiction writing.

Robert Palmer explains on this fantastic book, the origins and development of one authentic and unique american art form.
Palmer tells in a fascinating way the origins of the blues, from the age of slavery and its complex polyrithmyc african roots through its development in the Deep South plantation-based economy era, to its final consolidation and world spreading in Chicago's Southside.
Read how Charley Patton developed the genre, along with other gifted musicians like Tommy Johnson from the then almost unknown musical traditions of afroamericans on Mississippi's Delta to finaly create a true american tradition. Find how the amazing and legendary Robert Johnson , took the torch from Patton and made a whole revolution, exploring new musical forms for blues guitar playing. Discover the development of other blues scenes in Helena, New Orleans, Memphis, Detroit and more; and finally the emigration in 1943 of Muddy Waters to Chicago and the cultural revolution he provoked on a global scale when the blues gets electrified and brought to the big urban centers of America.

What are you waiting for!!!, stop reading and buy this book!!!.