Red River Blues: THE BLUES TRADITION IN THE SOUTHEAST (Music in American Life) [Paperback]

Bruce Bastin (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

English folklorist Bruce Bastin has written a history of the blues tradition in the Southern Atlantic states. Drawing on extensive interviews and primary sources, he focuses more on the performers than on the music. After describing the sociocultural context of the tradition, the author provides biographical details of its major practioners, mentioning in passing every performer he has been able to identify. The wealth of detail provided is impressive, and serious folklore collections will want this volume. The author's tendency to catalog information, however, leads to a lack of narrative cohesion; the general reader will find this slow going. Bruce Hulse, Brown Univ. Lib., Providence
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"The opening chapters are among the best things ever published on the blues. It's a thoughtful, substantial, solidly constructed, information-packed work, and should be in every serious blues enthusiast's library." -- Paul Oliver, Juke Blues

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press (October 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252065212
• ISBN-13: 978-0252065217
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,151,539 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Blues History, April 15, 2001

By 

B. D. Tutt (London, UK.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Red River Blues: THE BLUES TRADITION IN THE SOUTHEAST (Music in American Life) (Paperback)

Bruce Bastin is probably the leading expert on the blues styles of the East Coast of America, and this book is a superb analysis of the history of blues in a range of regional centres. It features detailed biographies of such seminal bluesmen as Willie McTell, Blind Blake, Pink Anderson, Gary Davis and Blind Boy Fuller, as well as much information about lesser known contemporaries such as Curley Weaver, Peg Leg Sam and Baby Tate.

Bastin draws on a great deal of field research he conducted in the 1960s and 1970s, and has a lot to say about the social and economic context of the blues, the development of regional styles, the role of medicine shows, the role of field recordings and the impact of white businessmen such as J.B. Long on the recording careers of bluesmen.

This is a well written and fascinating book which made me repeatedly go to my CD collection (or expand it further). It is a model of blues research. Anyone with an interest in east coast blues in general and the piedmont style in particular should not hesitate to buy this book. Strongly recommended.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, October 1, 2009

By 

Heath Edan Combs "heath" (north carolina) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Red River Blues: The Blues Tradition in the Southeast (Music in American Life) (Hardcover)

This is a great book on the blues tradition in the southeast, probably one of the least appreciated schools of the blues. If you love blues history like I do, you'll wish this book never ended. I've got the book accompanying the pbs blues docs, and the recent muddy waters bio, they're good, but not as great as this one, which I'd say is just about as good as the living blues book that came out in the last few years, you know, the big one with all the interviews and especially the big Houston Stackhouse interview.

The book paints the rise of the guitar with changes in the rural south and migration to northern southern cities before getting to the real meat of the story, the artists, with a great overview and history of Peg Leg Howell and his gang, and their recordings (which I purchased after reading this book and which were amazingly good), and goes through probably the best bios you'll find on Barbecue Bob(for whom I have a greater appreciation for), Blind Boy Fuller(whom I've always had a great appreciation for), Blind Gary David - both of whom this book includes gun toting anecdotes about - Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee(of whom I've got a greater appreciation for), and a whole host of other forgotten blues men. I'm reading fiddlin georgia crazy right now about fiddlin john carson, hope it's just as good, there was a recommendation on the back of the book for it.

This book doesn't get into a bunch of politics either, which is great.