Deep Ellum and Central Track: Where the Black and White Worlds of Dallas Converged [Hardcover]

Alan B. Govenar (Author), Alan B. Governar (Author), Jay F. Brakefield (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1998

Local histories are of far more than regional significance, particularly when the data relate to larger scenes, as is true in this study of Dallas's early-20th-century Jewish and Black ghettos--Deep Ellum and Central Track. The two groups had migrated to Dallas, individually expecting the traditions of segregation, a situation that brought about some degree of alliance. Sociological concerns do play a part in Govenar's coverage (including politics, economics, and crime), but his real subject is blues--an idiom that began to come into focus late in the 19th century and blossomed with Texan Blind Lemon Jefferson (1893-1929) and those who came under his influence. Although Govenar provides a very respectable bibliography, the majority of the footnoted sources are interviews, suggesting much of the information has not previously appeared in print. Included in the four appendixes are discographies of Dallas-related jazz, blues, gospel, and country and of the Light Crust Doughboys, a popular music ensemble active in the late 1930s (in fact, these two appendixes occupy more than a third of the book). Numerous photographs are also included. This will be a welcome addition to collections supporting study of the blues and of the US Southwest. Choice Magazine, May 1999. Review by D. R. de Lerma, Lawrence University.

"Through a mixture of contemporary interviews and historical research, Govenar and Brakefield provide us with a compelling portrait of Deep Ellum, a complex and often misunderstood section of Dallas. The nexus for many East Texas musicians during the 1920s and 1930s, Deep Ellum was a helter skelter mixture of clubs, pawnshops, and other small businesses that attracted the entire spectrum of vernacular musicians. This book is important not only for what it reveals about local blues, gospel, jazz, and western swing performers but for what it tells us about race relations and other poorly researched aspects of the city's social history." --Kip Lornell, George Washington University, & the Smithsonian Institution

"Like Beale Street in Memphis and Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Deep Ellum in Dallas, Texas, was famed in song and legend for its nightlife as well as its thriving daytime commerce. It was also a place in the segregated South where the races met in ways that they couldn't elsewhere. In the work of Govenar and Brakefield, Deep Ellum now takes its place in these other important southern urban districts of the early twentieth century."--David Evans, Professor of Music, The University of Memphis

"Alan Govenar is a gifted and meticulous researcher whose works are notable for a passionate respect for his subject. In its thoroughness and insight, Deep Ellum deepens our understanding of African-American music by re-connecting the art to its material base. It's a reminder that Harlem is only one chapter in the renaissance of African-American culture."--Lorenzo Thomas, University of Houston-Downtown

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: University of North Texas Press; 1st edition (November 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1574410512
• ISBN-13: 978-1574410518
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,551,284 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alan Govenar is a writer, folklorist, photographer, and filmmaker. He is president of Documentary Arts, a non-profit organization he founded in 1985 to present new perspectives on historical issues and diverse cultures. Govenar has a B.A. with distinction in American Folklore from Ohio State University, an M.A. in Folklore and Anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Ph.D. in Arts and Humanities from the University of Texas at Dallas. He is the author of twenty books, including Texas Blues: The Rise of a Contemporary Sound, Stompin' at the Savoy: The Story of Norma Miller, Extraordinary Ordinary People: Five American Masters of Traditional Arts, Untold Glory: African Americans in Pursuit of Freedom, Opportunity and Achievement, Stoney Knows How: Life as a Sideshow Tattoo Artist, Deep Ellum and Central Track: Where the Black and White Worlds of Dallas Converged, Portraits of Community, and The Early Years of Rhythm and Blues. His book Osceola: Memories of a Sharecropper's Daughter won First Place in the New York Book Festival (Children's Non-Fiction), a Boston Globe-Hornbook Honor; and an Orbis Pictus Honor from the National Council of Teachers of English.
Govenar has made numerous documentary films for broadcast and educational distribution in the United States and abroad, including The Microtones of Simon Shaheen, Poetry of Exactitude, The Devil's Swing, Texas Style, Everything But the Squeak, The Human Volcano, The Hard Ride, Dreams of Conquest, and Little Willie Eason and His Talking Gospel Guitar. His film Voyage of Doom was co-produced with La Sept/ARTE for broadcast in 20 French and German countries and with NOVA for primetime broadcast in North America.
Over the last two decades, Govenar has directed an ongoing, multifaceted project, entitled Masters of Traditional Arts, on the National Heritage Fellowship program of the National Endowment for the Arts, 1982-2007. In this capacity, Govenar has worked with institutions and cultural organizations across the United States and has compiled and edited a two-volume biographical dictionary, co-authored an education guide for teachers and students, curated exhibitions, developed interactive DVD video kiosks for museums, schools and libraries, and produced two 52-part radio series for national broadcast. Govenar has served on an Experts Panel on the safeguarding and inventory of intangible cultural heritage at UNESCO and is currently completing a pilot for an HD television series.
Through non-profit organization he founded in 1985, Govenar has presented new perspectives on historical issues and diverse cultures nationwide. He has organized festivals, arts-in-education programs and touring exhibitions; developed interactive media; and directed and produced films, videos and radio for national and international broadcast, in association with NOVA, La Sept/ARTE, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The off-Broadway premiere of his music Blind Lemon Blues, co-created with Akin Babatunde received rave reviews in The New York Times and Variety.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Overdue Tribute to an Important Blues CIty, November 28, 2005

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chris meesey Food Czar (The Colony, TX United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Deep Ellum and Central Track: Where the Black and White Worlds of Dallas Converged (Hardcover)

When your typical blues fan thinks of cities that were important to the development of this great art form, he usually thinks of Chicago and maybe Memphis. However, Alan Govenar and Jay Brakefield make the case for Dallas, Texas as a major center for the developement of the blues in no uncertain terms. Of course, Deep Ellum and Central Track is not a blues book per se, but rather a well researched historical and sociological treatise on the birth and development of Big D's Deep Ellum and Central Track districts from the earliest days to the present. The authors use lots of primary source interviews with the surviving denizens of this fascinating area of town and paint a truly engaging picture of the lifestyles and business practices of these predominantly black and Jewish areas, particularly around the 1920's heyday of the earliest great blues artists. Such immortal founding fathers as Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie Johnson and "Oak Cliff" T-Bone Walker were crucial to the growth of the art form, and these and innumerable lesser artists are covered in meticulous and loving detail. The authors also spend plenty of time covering contributors to the local jazz and country music scenes as well, particularly jazz hornman Buster Smith, and country pickers the Light Crust Doughboys, where western swing icon Bob Wills got his start. Even though the work has a decidedly scholarly bent, the numerous stories of such colorful characters as gambling mogul Benny Binion and mammoth shoeshine entrepreneur "Open the Door Richard", provide enough reading pleasure to keep even casual fans enthralled. Researchers will love the nearly one hundred pages of source appendices, and fans of history, sociology, music, and Big D will all want to read this book as soon as possible, for it proves, among other things, that Dallas, Texas was and is a fascinating city, as well as a major contributor to the history of the blues art form.

4.0 out of 5 stars Deeo Ellum, September 24, 2011

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J. Cannon (Richardson, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Deep Ellum and Central Track: Where the Black and White Worlds of Dallas Converged (Hardcover)

It was on time and exactly as promised. Love the book, interesting reading. I would order from this vendor again.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating study of music and culture in Dallas., January 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Deep Ellum and Central Track: Where the Black and White Worlds of Dallas Converged (Hardcover)

This is a well researched and well written description of a time and place in Dallas in the 20's and 30's that has long been overdue. The history of blues, jazz, gospel and country was written in Deep Ellum. It was a "good read", and I recommend it highly.