Sometimes the history of the blues
is a bit overwhelming,
and where do you start?
How about in the Delta. A great book
is Ted Gioia's "Delta Blues- The Life
I'll admit, I get a little nervous
reading about the blues by someone
who is a jazz-cat,has lots
of college degrees, and at one point
in his book, he asks...
why a Juilliard-trained musician
couldn't be considered for the
Blues Hall Of Fame...(cough, cough)
that's kind of like Robert Johnson's
proverbial fork in the road. Hmmm....
alright college boy- do you wanna
be book smart, or street-smart?
Anyway, Mr. Gioia's book is a great
starting point for a very
rich and tangled history
of America's roots music.
In this post, I thought I'd
start off with the first
part of his book.
He begins with a brief history of
the many slaves brought over
from Africa, and how they
in turn, brought their own
various religious practices,
ways of life, communication, and
social activities.
The Griots of West Africa,
Yoruban priests, and even
islamic calls to prayer.
Praising, begging, pleading, pining,
...this is all a reminder
that music originally started
out as a channel to communicate with
the almighty- whatever his/her name.
It's all a wonderful picture of the
cross-section of African religious
practices and Christianity.
There's plenty of other books
on this whole subject available
out there.
Mr Gioia says, "Although the blues
has been called
"the devil's music, it has
always remained on speaking
terms with the ministers of the
lord". Maybe that's
why alot of our great blues
and even country performers have
either been, or wanted to be some
kind of ministers
- Little Richard, Johnny Cash,
that hellion- Jerry Lee Lewis.
Even Jerry Lee's cousin
Jimmy Swaggart who was a real
minister exuded a little too
much rock'n'roll sweat, as opposed
to his other evangelical brethern who
only had a slight "moist" fervor.
Tomorrow, I'll continue my review
of the "Delta Blues"
