Blues is a language—one which has evolved its own rules and which is the sole property of a culture always forced to the periphery of white society. As such it is a political language. Whether it is passed as a legacy from African village to Mississippi farm, or from farm to Chicago ghetto, or from ghetto to Paris cafe, it is part of a larger oral heritage that is an expression of black America. Makeshift instruments, runaway slaves, railroads, prisons, empty rooms, work gangs, blindness, and pain have all been involved in the passing of this legacy, which has moved from hand to hand like a bottle of whiskey among friends and which now, for whatever reasons, seems faced with extinction. As Lightnin' Hopkins says: "I see a few young musicians coming along. But it’s not many. It's not many at all, and the few that is—I'll tell you, you know what I mean, they don't have it. They just don't feel it. . . . I never had that trouble. I had the one thing you need to be a blues singer. I was born with the blues."With an awareness of the urgency involved, and with considerable devotion, Samuel Charters has chosen twelve major bluesmen, each whom represents a major facet of the blues, and has written about them. Rather than adopt the voyeuristic tone of the academician, he has used the direct visceral images that have always composed the blues. Also included are interviews, photographs, lyrics, and separate chapters on the black experience in America, and the evolution of the blues language from its African origins. Samuel Charters has renewed contact with the greatness of the blues legacy—from the haunting lyric songs of the bluesmen like Robert Pete Williams and Lightnin' Hopkins to the fiercely joyous shouts of Champion Jack Depree, Memphis Slim, and Mighty Joe Young.
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About the Author
Samuel Charters is a musicographer, novelist, poet, and producer of jazz and blues records who for many years has also been seriously interested in every aspect of black music. His book, The Country Blues, was the first to be published on the subject. He began making field recordings in the South in the early 1950s and has subsequently produced many recordings, both of individual blues artists and of the musical backgrounds of the blues in the United States and the Caribbean. He has since extended his research and recording to West Africa. His other books include Jazz: A History of the New York Scene, The Blues Makers, and The Roots of the Blues.
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2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Book of the century!,
By anonymous (Montague, MA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Legacy Of The Blues: Art And Lives Of Twelve Great Bluesmen (Da Capo Paperback) (Paperback)
This book is a have to read.It inspires like no other and captures the mind intensly. If you like blues then you must get this book, right away. My faverite chapture is the one about snooks, a blues man. He is blind but can play the gatar like no other. This is Hickory...... saying peace out brothers.
3 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Book of the century!,
By anonymous (Montague, MA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Legacy Of The Blues: Art And Lives Of Twelve Great Bluesmen (Da Capo Paperback) (Paperback)
This book is a have to read.It inspires like no other and captures the mind intensly. If you like blues then you must get this book, right away. My faverite chapture is the one about snooks, a blues man. He is blind but can play the gatar like no other. This is Hickory...... saying peace out brothers.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
It is clear that the black man and the black woman live a separate life in the United States - that there is what has been called 'another America'. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
round your door, lonesome ride, country bluesmen, black gal, black speech, black society Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Memphis Slim, New Orleans, Big Bill, Robert Pete, South Side, Big Joe Williams, Champion Jack Dupree, Eddie Boyd, Hattie Mae, Gold Star, Mighty Joe Young, New York, Baton Rouge, Blind Lemon, Los Angeles, Roosevelt Sykes, Snooks Eaglin, Texas Alexander, Bukka White, Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy, Peter Chatman, West Side, Brother Goat New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
It is clear that the black man and the black woman live a separate life in the United States - that there is what has been called 'another America'. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
round your door, lonesome ride, country bluesmen, black gal, black speech, black society Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Memphis Slim, New Orleans, Big Bill, Robert Pete, South Side, Big Joe Williams, Champion Jack Dupree, Eddie Boyd, Hattie Mae, Gold Star, Mighty Joe Young, New York, Baton Rouge, Blind Lemon, Los Angeles, Roosevelt Sykes, Snooks Eaglin, Texas Alexander, Bukka White, Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy, Peter Chatman, West Side, Brother Goat New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 5
books:
- Lone Wolf by Kristine L. Franklin in Back Matter
- Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (Cosimo Classics Literature) by Phillis Wheatley on page 77
- Americans from Africa by Peter Isaac Rose in Back Matter
- On the Wall (Sight Word Readers) by Rozanne Lanczak Williams in Back Matter
- Big Bill Blues: William Broonzy's Story by William Broonzy on page 165
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