Escaping the Delta (46 page)

S
ALLIS
, J
AMES
.
The Guitar Players
. New York: William Morrow, 1982.

S
ANTELLI
, R
OBERT
.
The Big Book of Blues
. New York: Penguin, 1993.

S
HAW
, A
RNOLD
.
Honkers and Shouters: The Golden Years of Rhythm & Blues
. New York: Macmillan, 1978.

S
OUTHERN
, E
ILEEN
.
The Music of Black Americans: A History
. New York: W. W. Norton, 1971.

S
TEARNS
, M
ARSHALL, AND
J
EAN
S
TEARNS
.
Jazz Dance: The Story of American Vernacular Dance
. New York: Macmillan, 1968.

S
TEWART
-B
AXTER
, D
ERRICK
.
Ma Rainey and the Classic Blues Singers
. New York: Stein and Day, 1970.

T
OLL
, R
OBERT
C.
Blacking Up: The Minstrel Show in Nineteenth Century America
. New York: Oxford University Press, 1974.

T
OSCHES
, N
ICK
.
Unsung Heroes of Rock 'n' Roll
. New York: Harmony Books, 1991.

———.
Where Dead Voices Gather
. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001.

T
OWNSEND
, H
ENRY, AS TOLD TO
B
ILL
G
REENSMITH
.
A Blues Life
. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1999.

W
ARDLOW
, G
AYLE
D
EAN
.
Chasin' That Devil Music: Searching for the Blues
. San Francisco: Miller Freeman, 1998.

W
ELDON
, P
ETE, AND
T
OBY
B
YRON
.
Bluesland
. New York: Dutton, 1991.

W
EXLER
, J
ERRY, AND
D
AVID
R
ITZ
.
Rhythm and the Blues
. New York: Knopf, 1993.

W
HITBURN
, J
OEL
.
Top 40 Country Hits
. New York: Billboard Books, 1996.

———.
Top Pop Singles, 1955–1990
. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research, 1991.

———.
Top R&B Singles, 1942–1995
. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research, 1996.

W
OLFE
, C
HARLES, AND
K
IP
L
ORNELL
.
The Life and Legend of Leadbelly
. New York: HarperCollins, 1992.

W
OLFMAN
J
ACK, WITH
B
YRON
L
AURSEN
.
Have Mercy!
New York: Warner Books, 1995.

W
ORK
, J
OHN
W.
American Negro Songs and Spirituals
. New York: Crown Publishers, 1940.

W
RIGHT
, R
ICHARD
.
Black Boy
. New York: HarperPerennial, 1998.

ZUR
H
EIDE
, K
ARL
G
ERT
.
Deep South Piano: The Story of Little Brother Montgomery
. London: Studio Vista, 1970.

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accordionists, 52, 59, 266

Acuff, Roy, 93, 99

Adams, Samuel, 86, 91–96, 98–102

aesthetics

of black vs. white fans, 83, 217, 218, 220–21, 248–49

blues producers of 1930s vs. modern-day fans, 145

country vs. professional, 233

effect of, on direction of music, 250–54, 256–59

African-American audience blues defined by, 7–10

blues as women's market and, 215–16

blues in postwar period and, 194, 208–18

country vs. urban styles and, 31–32, 38, 216, 217

end of blues as pop music for, 218–19

first black artist marketed to, 21

hillbilly radio and, 96

not charmed by poverty, 258

older, rural music and, 10–11, 52

race records and, 3

reaction of, to RJ
^*
, xvii–xviii

singers preferred by, 21, 217

varied musical tastes of, 98–99

white blues fans ignore, 237–38

African-American music.
See also
specific artists and styles

mainstream pop, xxiii, xxiv, 72, 78–80

pre-1920s, 45–52

Southerner tradition of, 71–82

white audiences and revival of, 221–49

African-American musicians, 20, 34
See also
rural black artists
and specific artists and styles

early, white music overlap and, 46–52

range of material played by, 52–62

recording limits, 22

African influences, 5, 57, 70–73, 75–76, 85, 141, 157

religion and, 270–71

Aguilera, Christina, xiv

Alexander, Alger “Texas,” 34, 54, 76–77, 79, 198, 206

Allison, Mose, 4

Allman, Duane, 245

American Federation of Musicians, 196–97

Ammons, Albert, 227

Amsterdam News
, 26, 201–2

Andrews, Ed, 27

Animals, 255

antebellum South, 46–47

Anthology of American Folk Music
(6 LP set), 240

Apex Club Orchestra, 62

Apollo Theater (Harlem), 51

ARC company, 120–22, 147, 166–67, 182

“archaic” jazz, 237

Arhoolie Records, 97

Arkansas, 83

Armstrong, Howard “Louie Bluie,” 53–54

Armstrong, Louis, xxiv, 29, 35, 51, 62, 68, 96, 100, 174, 188, 215, 241

Arnold, Billy Boy, 268

Arnold, Eddy, 98

Arnold, Kokomo, xiv, 42, 94, 119, 127, 133, 134–36, 138–39, 144, 146, 166, 168–69, 173, 184–85, 256

art, concept and myths of, 232–33, 239–42, 245–46, 263

Atlanta, 33, 38, 60

Atlantic records, 205

audience.
See also
African-American audience; white audience

musicians attempt to please, 69

shift from black to white, and effect on music, 250–56, 260–61, 264

“authenticity.”
See
“realness”

Autry, Gene, xxvi, 54, 58, 59, 80, 97, 99, 101, 233

 

Baby Face Leroy, 208

Bailey, DeFord, 49, 96

Baker, LaVern, 206

ballads, 35, 37, 38, 224, 224

Ballard, Hank, 211

band singers, 188, 196–97

banjo, 28, 49–52, 157

Delta, 87, 88

supernatural skills and, 266

Barbecue Bob, 35, 79

Barber, Chris, 238–39

barbershops, 43–44

Barker, Danny, 84

Barnes, Booba, xix–xx

Barnes, George, 62

Basie, Count, 4, 37, 63, 93, 98–101, 195, 196, 205, 226, 232, 235, 227, 243

Baxter, Andrew, 48

Bayes, Norah, 18

“Beale Street Blues” (Handy), 17, 94

beat movement, 236, 237, 239–41

Bechet, Sidney, 227

Beck, Jeff, 249

Beefheart, Captain, 263

“Before Music Was Segregated,” 48

Belafonte, Harry, 81, 234, 238, 239

Bennett, Tony, 98

Berlin, Irving, 65, 206

Bernard, Al, 18, 20, 27

Berry, Chuck, 6, 128, 194, 208, 210, 211, 238, 239, 244, 246–48

Jordan's influence on, 200

Bible, 168

big bands, 98–99, 196–99, 202, 205, 206

Big Maybelle, 206

Billboard
charts, 203

“Black,” 219

“Blues,” 219

country, 200

“Harlem Hit Parade,” 195

“Hot Soul,” 219

“pop,” 199–200

“Race” 197, 198, 202

“Rhythm and Blues” (R&B), 203–8, 216, 219

black folk tradition

blues as, 43

white audience and, 222–23, 232

black migrations, 38, 80, 197–98

Black Music for White People
(Hawkins album), 220

“Black Snake” cycle of songs, 34, 94

“Black Snake Moan” (Jefferson), 34, 76, 100

Black Swan records, 23

Blackwell, Scrapper, 37, 65, 131, 133, 139

Bland, Bobby “Blue,” 97–98, 189, 212, 216–17, 219, 248, 258

Bland, James, 224

Blesh, Rudi, 237–38

Blind Blake, 33, 34, 35, 67, 79, 118, 157, 170–71, 200, 210

number of recordings, 42

Bloomfield, Michael, 249

“Blue Ghost Blues” (Lonnie Johnson), 174–175

“blue note,” 5, 6, 78

blues

acoustic, modern, 256, 257

aesthetic, and division between “pop” and “folk,” 234–35

as black pop music, early history of, 8, 9, 16–24, 36–37

as black pop music of 1940s, 200–206

as black pop music of 1950s and 1960s, 211–18

as black pop music, end of, 218–19

black to white audience shift and, xiii–iv, 218–19, 250–53

British boom, and Rolling Stones, 238–39, 243–46, 255

as category, artificiality of, 194, 212–13

commercial, as grab-bag, 5–6, 71

commercial, Lomax and, 230–31

compared to illness, 162

country guitarists and, 27–36

decline of individuality in modern, 254–55

“deep” or “true” and hollers, 81–82

defined, 4–10, 194

Delta life and, 83, 85, 101

Delta prewar pop and, 87–88, 91, 92, 99–100

Depression and, 39

“down-home” market for, 29–35, 206–7

early recordings, 20–42

early live performance and, 21, 43–59

early white artists and, 18–19, 27

early writers on, xxiii–xxiv

European rediscovery of, 243–45

evolution of, folk vs. pop influences and, 32–33

evolution of, paradox of RJ's reputation and, xv–xvi, xxiv–xxvi female singers and, 26–27

first heard by blues artists on record, 58, 79

first performed onstage, 16

first published, 16–14

folklorists record, 72–73

future of, 250–64

Hammond and Lomax rediscover, 227–34

Harlem Renaissance and, 224

history of, before 1920s, 46–52

Jordan and, 199–200

macho-satanic joking in, 177–78

modern players of, 262–63

older Southern black tradition and, 9, 71

origin of, 4, 9–13

overlap of, with jazz, 62–63, 98, 198

as poetic form, 168

pop and folk roots in, 32–35

pop recording artists underemphasized, 40–42

postwar period and, 194–219

Presley influenced by, 207

radio and prewar, 95–98

R&B vs., 203–4

recording industry segregates, 55–61

obscure and “country,” preferred by white revivalists, 240–43

rock 'n' roll as prism for history of, 7, 220–21

romanticism and myth of, xxiii, 8, 177, 256–58, 263–64

rural guitarists and, 13

searching for roots of, in contemporary Delta, xvi–xxiii

singers dominate, 196–97, 216–17

subcategories of, artificiality and limits of, 193, 194

supernatural and, 178, 266–68, 270–74

top recording stars of blues era, 40–42

urban musicians replace country guitarists, 36–42

variety of black musical styles and, 55–57

white cult audience and, xiii, 220–22, 253

white folk audience and, 81–82, 226, 234–40

white jazz fans and, 237–39

as women's music, in 1940s, 201–3

working-class and, 16, 251

blues queens, 7, 13, 18, 34–35, 37

field hollers and, 76

jazz and, 63, 237

postwar, 195, 201–3

rise of black, in 1920s, 22–29

sales of, 40

variety of music performed by, 61

white, in 1920s, 20, 23

work songs and, 80–81

blues revival, xxiv, 55, 67, 69, 78, 83, 176, 245–49

blues shouters, 198–99 “blue yodels,” 80

Bobo, Mississippi, xxii

Boggs, Dock, 5, 6

boogie bass, RJ's, 187–88, 217

boogie woogie, 204, 205, 243

Booker, Jim, 48

Booze, Wee Bea, 195, 202

Borges, Jorge Luis, 220

Boyd, Eddie, 209, 210, 242

Bracey, Ishmon, 119, 272

Bradford, Perry, 21, 25, 81

Bradley, Tommie, 52

brass band concerts, 44, 88

British blues boom, 238–39, 243–46, 255

Broadway show tunes, 99

Brockman, Polk, 30–31

Bronze Buckaroo, The
(film), 97

Broonzy, Big Bill, xiv, 10, 77, 202, 205

covers of, as hits, 211

number of recordings by, 39, 41

versatility of, 62

white audiences and, 81, 214, 227–28, 231, 232, 235, 237, 238

on writing blues lyrics, 145–46

Brown, Buster, 212

Brown, Charles, 37, 83, 183, 197, 198, 208, 210, 211, 213

Brown, James, xxiii, 4, 6, 25, 194, 200, 215, 218–19, 252, 274

Brown, Roy, 66

Brown, Ruth, 6, 203, 212

Brown, Sterling, 236

Brown, Walter, 93, 196

Brown, Willie, 90, 108–11, 161

Bumble Bee Slim, 39, 66, 182

number of recordings by, 41

RJ songs and, 131

Bunch, William.
See
Wheatstraw, Peetie

Butler, Jerry, 37

Butterfield, Paul, xxiv, 245

 

Café Society, 187

Cahill, Marie, 18–19, 21

Calloway, Cab, 64, 99, 215

camp-meeting shouts, 92

Canned Heat, xxiv

Carcassi, 46

Caribbean influence, 157, 268

Carmichael, Hoagy, 60

Carolinas, black musicians in, 60

Carolina Tarheels, 44–45

Carr, Leroy, xiv, 16, 34, 61, 96, 198, 211, 215, 219, 230, 253, 260, 264

disappearance of, 221

influence of, 36–37, 40, 58, 79, 93, 94, 98, 127, 195–97, 200, 204, 216

influence of, on RJ, 131–35, 144, 173, 179, 182–84

number of recordings by, 41

professionalism of, 177

reissues of, 242, 248

variety of music played live by, 63–65

white blues revival and, 237, 240

Carson, Fiddlin' John, 31, 33, 49, 160

Carter, Bo (Bo Chatmon), 35, 40, 54–55, 77, 119, 146, 182

number of recordings by, 41

Carter, Clarence, 189

Carter Family, 240

Caruso, 46

Casals, Pablo, 143, 260

Champion Race records, 52

Charles, Ray, xxiv, 6, 203, 274

career of, and RJ, 187

hits by, 211

influences on, 36, 201

musical categories and, 212

Charters, Samuel, xxiv–xxv, 234, 241–42

Chasin' That Devil Music
(Wardlow), 274

Chatmon, Bo.
See
Carter, Bo

Chatmon, Lonnie, 54, 77

Chess, Leonard, 210

Chess, Marshall, 212–13, 215–16

Chess Records, 210, 244, 245, 260

Chicago blues, 10, 39–40, 83, 173, 204, 208–9, 212–13, 219, 252

“Sweet Home Chicago” as anthem of, 139

RJ as bridge figure from Delta to, xvi studio groups, 39–41

white blues revival and, 243–45

Chicago Defender
, 26, 29, 35, 50–51, 96, 270, 195–96, 201–2, 208–9, 213

children's games songs, 5, 87, 129

Chopin, 251

Christian, Charlie, 200, 227, 230

Christmas records, 34