Chasing the Blues: A Traveler's Guide to America's Music

by Josephine Matyas, Craig Jones

Overview

A fusion of history, culture, and song in a practical travel guide for music lovers who want to understand more of what helped shape what they are seeing, hearing, and experiencing as they tour the cradle of the blues in Mississippi and beyond. By appreciating the roots of this most American style of music, readers will have a richer experience listening to songs and visiting blues' holy and sacred sites.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781493060603
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	09/15/2021
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Josephine Matyas is a multi-award-winning travel writer who has published extensively for two decades on destinations around the globe. Culture, history, and food are her areas of expertise.

Craig Jones is a lifer-musician trained in political economy at Queen's University, Canada. The eclectic mix of music, history, politics, and current affairs is what drives his writing, lecturing, teaching, and performing with bands and choirs.

Table of Contents

Preface: How to Use This Book ix

Acknowledgments xi

1 The Roots of American Popular Music 1

2 Land, River, Cotton, and People: The History and Centrality of the Blues 13

3 The Upper Mississippi Delta 41

4 The Lower Mississippi Delta 93

5 Mississippi outside the Delta 137

6 The Blues beyond Mississippi 181

7 The Blues Pioneers and a Guide to Instruments 215

8 How Britain Threw a Lifeline to the Blues 243

Bibliography and Suggested Readings 259

Index 263

Editorial Reviews

"Some of the finest books on the blues have been released over the years by Backbeat Books and this one invites you to join the authors on a journey to the very heartland of the blues and its origins. If you're planning to visit the USA, especially the Mississippi Delta, this is a book you just have to pack before you go; it's indispensable. Even if you're not going, it's one any blues lover will read again and again. There's not much omitted: the towns, the sites, the roads, the marker stones, the people, all are woven into a rich and fertile history of the blues from its beginnings to what's there today. .. Great facts and some great photos means this is one book from which to learn so much more about the music we all love."—Pete Clack for Blues in Britain

From the Publisher

If you're planning to visit the USA, especially the Mississippi Delta, this is a book you just have to pack before you go [...] Great facts and some great photos mean this is one book from which to learn so much more about the music we love.

Blues in Britain