Escaping the Delta (49 page)

March of Time
(newsreel), 232

Markham, Pigmeat, 51

Martin, Dean, 207

Martin, Sara, 21, 26, 27, 40, 41

Mayall, John, 245

Mayfield, Percy, 6 “Me and the Devil” (RJ), 182, 267

devil in, 274

humor in, xvii, 177–79, 274

recorded, 175–79

“Mean Mistreater Blues,” 94, 131, 133

medicine shows, 51, 55, 139, 274

Memphis, 33, 38, 62, 102, 149, 204

“Memphis Blues (Mr. Crump), The,” (Handy) 16–18

Memphis Jug Band, 42

Memphis Minnie, 40, 41, 63, 77, 92, 99, 100, 134, 229, 262

wide repertoire of, 62

Memphis Slim, 209, 242, 243

Messenger's Café jukebox titles, 99–100

Michelangelo, 262

“Midnight Hour Blues” (Carr), 37, 260
Midnight Ramble
(radio show), 96

Milburn, Amos, 198, 216 “Milk Cow Blues” (Arnold), 94, 134, 138, 145, 168–69, 173, 184–85

“Milk Cow Calf Blues” (RJ), 184–85

Miller, Aleck “Sonny Boy Williamson,” 90, 209

on death of RJ, 124

Miller, Glenn, 99, 196

Miller, Steve, 249

Millinder, Luckey, 197

Mills Brothers, 96, 152

Milton, John, 275

Milton, Roy, 198

minstrel shows, 11, 18–19, 28, 33, 35, 44, 46, 50–52, 54–55, 60–61, 139, 222, 224

Mississippi blues players.
See also
Delta blues;
and specific artists

Charley Patton and, 35–36

Chicago sound and, 198, 209

development of, RJ and, 126–28

postwar era, 207

prewar stars from, 83

R&B hits and, 209, 211

recordings, 119–20

Mississippi Jook Band, 126, 153

Mississippi Sheiks, xx, xxi, xxv, 34, 36, 42, 52, 54, 94, 119, 126, 144, 146, 229

Missouri, 83

Mitchell's Christian Singers, 227

moans.
See
field hollers

modernism, 17, 85, 102

RJ and, 144, 177–78

Monroe, Bill, 48

Montgomery, Little Brother, xx, 65–66, 79, 84, 137, 242, 269

“Moonshine Blues” (Ma Rainey), 24

Moore, Johnny, 188, 197, 209

Moore, Monette, 22

Moore, Rudy Ray, 267

Moore, Scotty, 239

Moore, Spence, 51

Moore, Whistlin' Alex, 98

Morand, Herb, 63

Morton, Jelly Roll, 12, 26, 51, 176, 237, 268–70, 275

Mumford, Lewis, 14

musical categories, 193–94, 204–5, 208, 212–13, 218

invention of, 44, 56

musical versatility and variety, 44–69, 95–101, 127, 206, 233

“My Black Mama” (House), 159

“My Blue Heaven,” 98, 118

Myth of the Machine, The
(Mumford), 14

 

Narmour, William T., 48

Negro and His Songs, The
(survey of black rural folk music), 231

“Negro spiritual” ensembles, 223

Nelson, Romeo, 237

Nelson, Sonny Boy.
See
Powell, Eugene neo-ethnic movement, 240

Newbern, Hambone Willie, 164

Newbern, Willie, 126

New Orleans, 12–13, 29, 33, 157

New Orleans jazz

hoodoo and, 268–69

jazz purists (“moldy figs”) and, 193–94, 237

New Orleans Joys
(album), 238

Newport Folk Festival, 254–55

Wolf at, 214–15

New York Times
, 272

Noone, Jimmy, 62

North Carolina, 83

 

O Brother, Where Art Thou?
(movie), 272

Oertle, Ernie, 120

“Oh! Red” (McCoy), 63, 152–53

Okeh Records, 27, 30–31, 267

Oklahoma, 83, 198

“Old Original Kokomo Blues” (Arnold), 138, 139

“Old Time” music, 31, 47, 49–50, 52, 52

Oliver, King, 26, 34, 62, 237

Oliver, Paul, 79

On the Road
(Kerouac), 241

Orlando, Tony, and Dawn, 56

Ottley, Roi, 10

 

Paganini, 271, 275

Palmer, Robert, 71, 77

“Papa's Got a Brand New Bag” (James Brown), 194, 218

Paramount Records, 27–29, 66, 108, 143, 159

“test pressing,” variety of black “bluesmen” and, 56–57

Parchman Farm, 72, 75, 160, 161

Parker, Charlie, xxiv, 188, 193

Parker, Junior, 138, 139, 217

parlor songs, 92

Parton, Dolly, 25

“party blues,” 146

patriotic anthems, 92

Patton, Charley, xiv, xv, xvii, xxv, 56, 57, 59, 79, 113, 118, 119, 143, 206, 210, 214, 215, 268, 273

Delta or “deep” sound and, 77, 90, 102, 126, 156, 158

House, Brown and, 108, 161

influence of, on RJ, 160

lyrics of, 132

popularity of, 35–36, 40, 94, 100

rediscovery of, 240

showmanship of, 108

vocal style, 155

Peer, Ralph, 31

Peetie Wheatstraw: The Devil's Son-In-Law
(record and movie), 267

Pekin Theater (Chicago), 16

“Penitentiary Moan Blues” (field holler), 77

Perkins, George, 34

Pettis, Arthur, 126

Petway, Robert, 126

Phillips, Esther, 203

Phillips, Sam, 214

Phillips, Washtub Robbie, xvi

“Phonograph Blues” (RJ), 147–48

pianists, 209

folk revival and, 242–43

influence of, on RJ, 137

piano-guitar duos, 35–40, 61–62

Picasso, 151, 172

Pickett, Wilson, 252

Piedmont style, 170

“Pinetop's Boogie Woogie,” 100, 211–12

plantation system, 84–85, 101

“Police Station Blues” (Wheatstraw), 146

Polish favorites, 53

polyrhythms, 157–58, 170

popular music “pop,” 7, 58

art vs., 243

bluesmen as entertainers and, xv, 215, 252

Delta prewar taste and, 87–88, 90–95, 98

“folk” vs., 234–37, 240–42, 252

influence of, on bluesmen, 32–33, 58, 60, 127, 129, 130, 201, 262

played by blues artists, 52, 61–62, 64–66

rural artists and, 52–54, 72

“popular culture,” as academic discipline, 235

“postclassic jazz,” 237

Powell, Eugene (Sonny Boy Nelson), xx–xxi, 68

Preachin' Blues (Up Jumped the Devil)” (RJ), 267

House and, 161

recorded, 161–63, 172

rediscovered, 229, 242

Premice, Josephine, 233

Presley, Elvis, 4, 84, 134, 194, 207–8, 211, 215, 221, 239, 241, 244, 248

Price, Lloyd, 212, 252

Price, Sam, 100, 195

Pride, Charley, 69

primitive folk art

white fans and blues as, 220–21, 227–29

prison farms, 72–75, 77, 85

Prohibition, 88

Providence Civic Center concert, 259–60

Pruitt Twins, 26

Pullum, Joe, 94

 

“Queen” Elizabeth, 276

 

Rabbit Foot Minstrels, 199

Race records, 16, 21–42

pop music and, 53

rediscovery of, 3, 242

styles not recorded by, 45, 52

work songs and, 80–81

Rachell, Yank, 94

racism.
See also
stereotypes

minstrel shows and, 51–52

Mississippi Delta and, 84–85, 101

radio, 95–99, 101–2, 118, 197

“ragtime” (older African-American rural music), 5, 6, 10–11, 16, 61, 28, 33, 85, 87, 88, 157

RJ and, 153, 170–71

Rainey, Georgia Tom and Rainey, Gertrude “Ma,” 4, 10, 11, 28, 94, 206, 264, 273

influence of, 22, 37–38, 80, 199

influences on, 76

Jefferson and, 32–33

names the blues, 11–12

number of recordings by, 42

postwar covers of, 195, 196, 211

style and variety of, 21–26

Rainey, William “Pa,” 11

Raitt, Bonnie, 197, 256

“Rambling on My Mind” (RJ), 147, 148 recorded, 139–40

Rand, Odell, 63

rap music, 264

Ratliff, Rev. James, xvii, xxv

Real Folk Blues
(Chess album reissue), 245

Really! The Country Blues
(album), 242

“realness,” xiv, 7–8, 232, 233–34, 240–41, 253–54, 258

record collectors, 236, 237

record companies

“blues” term, applied to rural guitarists by, 13

cost of discs and, 57–58

blues queens as first blues hits and, 17–18, 21–26

Delta and, 101

Depression and bankruptcy of, 39

early accompaniments and, 26

early country male recordings by, 27–38

emphasis on new material by, 66–68

female vs. male popularity, 26–27

greatest-of-all-time recording by, 260–61

influence of, on musicians, 46, 58–59, 79

limit black musicians to blues, 47, 52–53, 56–68

live performance and, 21, 40, 44–47

male singer-guitarists and, 27–36

regional markets and, 30–31

rise of black artists and, 21–22

RJ discovered by, 119–21

stars of, of 1920s and 1930s, 39–42

urban sounds replace country guitar-singers and, 36–42

white blues revival and, 240–41

WW II and, 196–97

Redding, Otis, 37, 218

Red Scare, 239

Reed, Jimmy, xxiii, 3, 136, 138, 207, 217–18, 245

“reels,” 10

regional differences, 30–31, 157

Reinhardt, Django, 201

reissues, 240, 245, 247, 263

Rembrandt, 241

“rent parties,” 38, 61, 67

Rhodes, Walter, 59, 94

Rhythm and Blues (R&B), 6.
See also
Billboard charts

Carr resurfaces on, 183

as category, 194, 208, 212

“down-home” bluesmen and, 206–7

hits, 199, 209–10, 211–12, 216–18

influences on, 37

hoodoo and, 268

McGhee and, 234

term becomes standard, 203–6

Welk hit and, 97

rhythm duos, 188

Richards, Keith, 221, 239, 243–46

Rite of Spring
(Stravinsky), 241

Robertson, Alec, 87

Robeson, Paul, 81, 93

Robinsonville, Miss., 107, 108, 109

Rock, Chris, 274

“Rock Island Line,” 232, 238

rock 'n' roll, 6, 137, 210

bluesmen as roots of, 220

as category, vs. blues, 194, 208

European blues revival and, 243

folk music vs., 239

RJ and, 263

Turner and, xxiii, 199, 205

Rodgers, Jimmie, xxiv, 56, 69, 80, 94, 96, 118, 188, 240, 244, 255, 263

Rogers, Jimmy, 261

Rogers, Roy, 97, 239

“Roll and Tumble Blues,” 164, 180

Rolling Stones, xxiv, 128, 220–21, 239, 243–46, 252, 254, 255, 276

Romanticism, 223

black vs. white, 9, 276

lone black guitarist myth and, 8–9, 12–13, 19, 248–49, 263

obscurity and, 240–42

RJ myth and, 263, 266

white view of black culture and, 226, 248–49, 257–58

Roomful of Blues, 259

Roosevelt, Theodore, 224

Ross, Lanny, 99, 101, 129

Royal Canadians, 96

Rubinstein, Arthur, 251

Ruffin, David, 37

rural black artists.
See also
country blues; “down-home” sound; Delta blues; “Old-Time” music; “ragtime”

early echoed, 157

folklorists and, 223, 224

influence of Rainey on, 12

recordings, early boom in, 31, 32

rural music, 47, 51, 54, 157

blues boom and, 40, 42

“folk” music in prewar South, 70–82

“neo-ethnics,” 240

overlap of black and white, in south, 47–52

“songster” label and, 55–56

variety of styles and, 44–45, 54

Rushing, Jimmy, 93, 99, 195, 196, 205

 

“Sagefield Woman Blues” (Arnold), 135

St. Augustine, 273

St. Louis, xvi, 38, 40, 102, 116–17, 219

“St. Louis Blues” (Handy), 11, 16, 17, 21, 58, 93, 94

Sallie Martin Singers, 202

“Salty Dog Blues,” 28, 94

Santeria, 271

Satherley, Art, 120

Schulta, Arnold, 48

Scruggs, Uncle John, 49–50

sea chanteys, 73

“Section Gang Blues” (field holler), 77

“Section Hand Blues,” 80–81

Seeger, Pete, 239

“See See Rider” (Rainey), xxiii, 195, 202

hit as “C.C. Rider,” 211

segregation, 48, 51–52, 204

Senegal song, 75–76

“Shake, Rattle and Roll” (Turner), xxiii, 194, 205, 206, 211

“Shake It Baby” (Hooker), 244

Shakespeare, 241

“Shake That Thing” (Jackson), 28, 38

sharecropping, 84–85, 87