The Ballad of Blind Tom: America's Lost Musical Genius

Born into slavery in Georgia, Tom Wiggins died an international celebrity in New York in 1908. His life was one of the most bizarre and moving episodes in American history. Blind and presumably autistic - and so unable to work with the other slaves - Tom was left to his own devices. He was mesmerized by the music of his owner's young daughters, and by the time he was four Tom was playing tunes on the piano. Eventually freed from slavery, Blind Tom toured the country and the world, playing on one occasion for huge crowds and private audiences, for celebrities and royalty - and dazzling audiences everywhere. Part genius and part novelty act, Blind Tom embodied contradictions - a star and a freak, freed from slavery but still the property of his white guardian. His life grants us a prism through which we can see into the culture of celebrity and racism at the turn of the twentieth century. In this rollicking, heartrending, and insightful book, O'Connell takes us through the life (and four separate deaths) of Blind Tom Wiggins, restoring to the modern reader this unusual yet quintessentially American life.

About the Author :
Deirdre O'Connell has lived in Australia, Britain and the United States. Having made documentaries for the Jimi Hendrix Estate and United Nations Environment Program, she now works in news at SBS Australia and in community cultural development.

Review :
'It's a story full of contradictions and confusion. According to 19th-century white planter ideology, Tom was "sub-human"; according to African-American folklore, he was a "spirit child" blessed with the gift of "second sight"; according to more recent interpretations, he was an autistic savant. The greatest strength of this book is that it sides with none of these views. Instead, O'Connell embraces all "the holes, contradictions, outright lies and distortions and the tiny nuggets of truth" and reimagines the cacophony Tom might have heard in the turbulent world that surrounded him' - Observer. 'The name Blind Tom means nothing today, but in Civil War-era America, he was one of the greatest music stars going ... Tom's is a story with bottomless complexity, touching on race and sanity and slavery and art. But ultimately, his life makes us think about what it means to be human. Such material is catnip for a theory-driven writer. Thankfully, Deirdre O'Connell isn't one. In "The Ballad of Blind Tom, Slave Pianist" she lays bare the ambiguities and leaves most of them at that. Few books ask as many questions, yet while too many questions can leave us begging for resolution, O'Connell mostly gets out of the way. She airs the unknowable stuff -- but then gets on to the next chapter of this all-but-forgotten mystery man's brilliant career' - LA Times. 'An exciting narrative text full of powerful visual imagery ... an irresistible read. [Although] Blind Tom was not a blues or roots musician ... the story of this fascinating but largely forgotten figure in American music will appeal to many blues and roots fans' - Living Blues Magazine. 'If you're an avid reader of African American history or a student of early American entertainment, you'll want this book' - Pittsburgh Courier.