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Chasin' That Devil's Music, Searching for the Blues Paperback – August 1, 1998

by Gayle Dean Wardlow (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars 13 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Backbeat Books; Pap/Com edition (1998)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0879305525
  • ISBN-13: 978-0879305529
  • Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.7 x 9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #95,666 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 starsa flawed but worthwhile look at the makers of the blues
By Jerome Clark on February 20, 1999
Format: Paperback
Chasin' That Devil Music will interest hard-core devotees and scholars of rural blues, even if its narrow focus will occasionally frustrate and exasperate them. Those of us who love American roots music owe Gayle Dean Wardlow a huge debt of gratitude for the many years he has devoted to the search for the the human beings behind those scratchy, classic 1920s/1930s Mississippi blues recordings. This book puts between covers a number of articles, most of them fairly short, Wardlow has published in blues and record-collector periodicals since the 1960s. It's fat with detail and minutia of varying degrees of interest, and here and there it stops to debunk some hoary blues legend. It contains a wealth of terrific photographs, and a splendid CD accompanies it. That's the good news. The bad news is that nothing especially profound or engaging is going on here. Wardlow treats the musicians as if they existed in a vacuum except when they recorded, played, or interacted with one another. The reader longs for some effort to put these talented men (there are few women here) into a broader cultural context, or for some attempt to relate rural blues to the other varieties of rural Southern folk music, white as well as black, that helped to create and shape it. Then, again, maybe it isn't fair to criticize an author for not writing the book you wish he'd written. It can, however, be fairly charged that because of its reprint format, the book lacks structure and narrative drive. Wardlow ought to have attempted to use the articles simply as the first draft of a coherent, fully realized book. As it is, Chasin' That Devil Music is best ingested in small bites.
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5.0 out of 5 starsOne amazing author/researcher
By Rick Kennedy on June 13, 2000
Format: Paperback
I praise this remarkable book as a biased reader. I've had the great pleasure over the years to discuss early blues research projects with Mr. Wardlow, a fine Southern gentleman. It is no exaggeration to say that we would know far, far less about the details surrounding the early recordings of our pioneer Delta blues musicians without his field research. He began his search in the early 1960s when many elderly blues artists, or associates and relatives, were still alive. This book details his amazing journeys into a mysterious world. He kept these details from being lost forever. As blues (like jazz) becomes part of our academia, Mr. Wardlow's work will become more recognized. This book isn't a rehash/compilation of previously published material. Wardlow is a research hound like no other. Read this book and then take it with you down Highway 61 through the Delta. You will be overwhelmed.
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5.0 out of 5 starsOne man's journey to find the blues
By S. O'Toole on June 16, 2014
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Wardlow paints a vivid picture of what it was like for him as a young man seeking out the "lost" blues recordings of the Mississippi Delta. Readers are introduced to a variety of characters who, each in their own way, helped keep this classic music alive for the next generation to discover. It includes a CD of some of Wardlow's discoveries and that alone is worth the price of the book. Highly recommended for lovers of the blues or music history in general.
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4.0 out of 5 starsA facinating book
By A Customer on April 2, 1999
Format: Paperback
This book is not intended as a complete story of the blues or of even the Delta blues, but it is a facinating book none the less. I am not an expert but to follow the researching of these blues figures, some of whom we do not even know what they looked like, how they died or where they are buried, is facinating reading. Unlike rock stars today, these men and a few women, produced their art in almost total obscurity to the culture of today and we owe Wardlow a debt of gratitude for his field work. Sure their are more comprehensive books, but none better to show how the facts and the music was rediscovered when and if available.
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5.0 out of 5 starsThe Delta Blues
By tsl on October 18, 2008
Format: Paperback
Wardlow tells his researching story, so it is not a chronological history book of the Delta Blues, it is devided by research types, for instance a section about finding documents , and a section about interviews. Yet it gives finally good tools to know about the Delta Blues big picture.

Young Delta Blues fans who for instance are not aware that there were a question how many people by the name of Willie Brown were at the same place and time playing Delta Blues, it is not only good introduction of the question but also the possible answers.

I have this book about a year or two and I keep coming back. It is essential if you are really a Delta Blues fan who wants to extend the knowledge about the Delta Blues and it's history, this is the first place. It can serve as appendix to any article or book about the Delta Blues, so when reading other stuff, coming back to this book is going to be a ritual for anyone having this book.
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5.0 out of 5 starsVery Worthwhile Collection Of Articles On Delta Blues History
By Mark Anderson on August 2, 2014
Format: Paperback
Gayle Dean Wardlow is one of the leading researchers into the history of Delta blues. He started researching the blues in the early 1960s as a college thesis, going so far as to get a job as an exterminator in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s as a way of gaining entry into African-American neighbourhods (Wardlow is white) to pursue to his research and to seek out copies of old 78s of forgotten blues artists.

Wardlow's later research included uncovering Robert Johnson's death certificate In Leflore County, Mississippi.

This book consists of a number of articles (some previously published in other journals and magazines, others first published in this book) on a number of Delta blues artists, promoters, talent scouts, Wardlow's research and general music history. It's all interesting and worthwhile material.

If you're interested in Delta blues history, anything by Gayle Dean Wardlow is worth reading and this book is no exception. I have no problem recommending this book to any Delta blues fan.

But be sure to buy a new copy rather than a used copy. The new version includes a CD with some 1920s and 1930s blues songs and some interesting interviews. The CD is worth having but it's typically not found with used copies since previous owners retain the CD when they sell the book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsWas elated to learn of this book & was very ...

Was elated to learn of this book & was very interested in a bit of history, not only of Robert Johnson, but a bit of family history since H. C. Speir was my father's uncle.

Published 2 months ago by Jennifer Wilson
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat Book on Robert Jonhson

Great book to enhance anyones knowledge on the legend Robert Johnson. For those interested in music and it's history and for musicians too.

Published on January 28, 2013 by Daniel R. Nunamaker
3.0 out of 5 starsDefinte, interesting, scholarship, good CD

Whatever you think of Wardlow's own views, this is the kind of definite real scholarship someone who wants to become really knowledgeable about Mississippi blues and its economic... Read more

Published on January 20, 2004 by Tony Thomas
3.0 out of 5 stars"They forgott,but I know better"

Am I the only one who noticed that this is not a book about ancient blues masters but a monument to its author? Read more

Published on January 29, 2002 by Sasha
5.0 out of 5 starsThe mystique of early rural blues

This book IS a reprint of previously published articles, not all of them written by Wardlow (for instance, an interview with Wardlow by other reporters is included), but apparently... Read more

Published on August 21, 2001 by H.R. Sauertieg
5.0 out of 5 starsBlues Masterpiece

Gaylon is one of the world's top authorities on pre-war blues and his book is true masterpiece. After collecting for 25 years I still learned a lot from this great book.

Published on July 3, 2000 by david hall
4.0 out of 5 starsA Blues music resource.

This book is a reprint of a collection of articles written by blues scholar Gayle Dean Wardlow. The collection contains interviews of blues musicians who helped shaped today's... Read more

Published on June 5, 1999 by William A. Houston

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