Deep Blues: A Musical and Cultural History of the Mississippi Delta

A detailed history of the musical and social impact of the blues, the bedrock of rock and roll

“A lucid . . . entrancing study.”—Greil Marcus

“Palmer has a powerful understanding of the music and an intense involvement in the culture.”—The Nation

In Deep Blues, Robert Palmer traces the odyssey of the blues from its rural beginnings, to the steamy bars of Chicago’s South Side, to international popularity, recognition, and imitation. Palmer tells the story of the blues through the lives of its...