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The Blues
- The Authentic Narrative of My Music and Culture
- Narrated by: Adam Lazarre-White
- Length: 24 hrs and 1 min
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The Blues
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Summary
All prior histories on the blues have alleged it originated on plantations in the Mississippi Delta. Not true, says author Chris Thomas King. In The Blues, King presents facts to disprove such myths. For example, as early as 1900, the sound of the blues was ubiquitous in New Orleans. The Mississippi Delta, meanwhile, was an unpopulated sportsman’s paradise - the frontier was still in the process of being cleared and drained for cultivation. Moreover, this book is the first to argue that the blues began as a cosmopolitan art form, not a rural one.
Protestant states such as Mississippi and Alabama could not have incubated the blues. New Orleans was the only place in the Deep South where the sacred and profane could party together without fear of persecution. Expecting these findings to be controversial in some circles, King has buttressed his conclusions with primary sources and years of extensive research, including a sojourn to West Africa and interviews with surviving folklorists and blues researchers from the 1960s folk-rediscovery epoch. They say the blues is blasphemous - the devil’s music. King says they’re unenlightened, that blues music is about personal freedom.
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Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 05-01-22
Two books in 1 that really should just be 2 books
A fascinating re-examination of blues origins that gets bogged down in repetition and ego. CTK presents a well-researched and compelling argument for the need to re-examine the origins of the blues away from Mississippi; looking to Louisiana for its true roots. There is much to be learned and considered in this book, but what CTK does have to say could have been said in about a quarter of the time.
The book often becomes repetitive, with many anecdotes leading down the same lanes. The repetition at times almost seems to undermine the veracity of CTK's claims, seeming a little too desperate to hammer the point home.
This really is two books: one alternative blues origin narrative, and one autobiography; and really that's what it should have been. A concise version of the Louisiana blues origin narrative would have made for a deeply compelling and engaging listen. While the ego-ridden autobiography left me cold and bored. I listened to the end but it became a real chore. That's probably different for CTK's fans but there's little here for the casual listener unless you like Partridge-style 'Needless to say, I had the last laugh' anecdotes and endless blues namedropping.
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