The Blues Lib/E: A Very Short Introduction

Praised as "suave, soulful, ebullient" (Tom Waits), Elijah Wald is one of the leading popular music critics of his generation. In The Blues, Wald surveys a genre at the heart of American culture. It has been defined by lyrical structure, or as a progression of chords, or as a set of practices reflecting West African "tonal and rhythmic approaches," using a five-note "blues scale." He traces its roots in work and praise songs, and shows how it was transformed by such professional performers as W. C. Handy, who first popularized the blues a century ago. He follows its evolution from Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith through Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix; identifies the impact of rural field recordings of Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charley Patton, and others; explores the role of blues in the development of both country music and jazz; and looks at the popular rhythm and blues trends of the 1940s and 1950s, from the uptown West Coast style of T-Bone Walker to the "down home" Chicago sound of Muddy Waters. Wald brings the story up to the present, touching on the effects of blues on American poetry, and its connection to modern styles such as rap. As with all of Oxford's Very Short Introductions, The Blues tells you--with insight, clarity, and wit--everything you need to know to understand this quintessentially American musical genre.

About the Author :
Elijah Wald is a writer and musician whose books include Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues and How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll: An Alternative History of American Popular Music. A respected expert on the folk revival, he collaborated with Dave Van Ronk on The Mayor of MacDougal Street, the inspiration for the Coen brothers' film Inside Llewyn Davis. His awards include a 2002 Grammy, and he has taught blues history at UCLA and lectured widely on American, Mexican, and world music. He currently lives in Medford, Massachusetts. Brian Telestai is an American musician and actor based in the Pacific Northwest. He started in the entertainment industry as a founding member of I Am Ghost on Epitaph Records (bass/keys/orchestration/background vocals). You might have seen him on the front page of Myspace, playing on the Vans Warped Tour in 2006 or 2007, or even on posters at your local mall, when he was a model for Hot Topic. These days, he works as a film, stage, and television actor, voice-over artist, and audiobook narrator. He is also passionate about writing hard rock musicals, helping his wife of fifteen years with her performing arts camps, hiking and forest bathing along the Boise River, and cuddling his tuxedo cat, Hiro.