Beyond the Crossroads: The Devil and the Blues Tradition

by Adam Gussow

Overview

The devil is the most charismatic and important figure in the blues tradition. He’s not just the music’s namesake (“the devil’s music”), but a shadowy presence who haunts an imagined Mississippi crossroads where, it is claimed, Delta bluesman Robert Johnson traded away his soul in exchange for extraordinary prowess on the guitar. Yet, as scholar and musician Adam Gussow argues, there is much more to the story of the devil and the blues than these clichéd understandings.

In this groundbreaking study, Gussow takes the full measure of the devil’s presence. Working from original transcriptions of more than 125 recordings released during the past ninety years, Gussow explores the varied uses to which black southern blues people have put this trouble-sowing, love-wrecking, but also empowering figure. The book culminates with a bold reinterpretation of Johnson’s music and a provocative investigation of the way in which the citizens of Clarksdale, Mississippi, managed to rebrand a commercial hub as “the crossroads” in 1999, claiming Johnson and the devil as their own.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781469633664
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	10/02/2017
Series:	New Directions in Southern Studies
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	1,096,541
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Adam Gussow is associate professor of English and southern studies at the University of Mississippi and author of Mister Satan’s Apprentice: A Blues Memoir.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

At once affable and frightening, the devil is forever partnered with the blues. Beyond the Crossroads is a beautifully written exploration of what Adam Gussow calls 'the blues' most malleable, dynamic, and important personage.' This is a work of exquisite detail.—William Ferris, author of Give My Poor Heart Ease: Voices of the Mississippi Blues



Beyond the Crossroads is brilliant, a game-changer in blues history. A breathtaking and highly engaging book on a most American of sounds.—Patricia Schroeder, author of Robert Johnson, Mythmaking, and Contemporary American Culture



Adam Gussow is an excellent interpreter of the blues. He has earned the right to speak. We should listen to him and be informed about one of the most important musical expressions in American history. I strongly recommend Beyond the Crossroads: The Devil and the Blues Tradition.—James H. Cone, author of The Spirituals and the Blues

Editorial Reviews

A model work of scholarship: years of meticulous and extensive archival work are the foundation for this multidisciplinary study that carefully and respectfully applies research in cultural history, anthropology, psychology, popular culture, film studies, and more to the use of the devil figure and related imagery within the blues tradition.”—Journal of Southern History

“By looking at over 125 blues songs, Gussow illustrates that the devil stands at the center of the black Southern blues tradition as a figure that sows trouble, wrecks love, but also gives power.” —No Depression

“Masterfully researched, impeccably well-written, spell bindingly interesting food for thought for curious minds. . . . An important addition to any serious blues reader’s bookshelf.” —Country Blues

“Gives blues fans plenty to ponder in this challenging book that doesn’t back away from taking on some cherished parts of the blues tradition. Readers will be compelled to revisit some classic tunes to hear the songs with fresh ears, ready to garner new meanings based on the many forms of the devil illuminated in this work. Thanks to Mr. Gussow for attempting to get us out of our blues comfort zones, and for providing readers with well-researched concepts that invite us to do more than just listen to the music.” —Blues Blast

“Gussow’s scope is broad and deep, impeccably researched and far too complex and thorough for a brief review to do it justice. . . . His central thesis. . . [challenges] much of the mythologizing of blues culture that has arisen over the years — and, by implication, the patronizing (at best) or downright racist (at worst) assumptions that have often accompanied it. . . . Gussow’s analysis is prescient, and it adds significantly to our understanding of the texture and complexity of the bluesmen’s art, its legacy and its meaning.”—Living Blues

“An excellent antidote to the mystification of the music.” —CHOICE

“Gussow asks . . . of all the many kinds of African American popular music, why is/was it that blues alone has been singled out as the devil’s music?”—American Music

From the Publisher