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E-book
Author Hamilton, Marybeth.

Title In search of the blues / Marybeth Hamilton
Published [New York] : Basic Books, ©2008

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Description 1 online resource (309 pages) : illustrations
Series African American music reference
Contents The Delta revisited -- Impartial testimony -- On the trail of negro folk songs -- Sound photographs of negro songs -- Been here and gone -- The real negro blues
Summary Who really invented the Delta blues? A historian debunks the conventional wisdom about an iconic American art form. Leadbelly, Robert Johnson, Charley Patton--we are all familiar with the story of fierce, raw voices, tormented drifters, and deals with the devil at the crossroads at midnight. In this reconstruction of the origins of the Delta blues, historian Marybeth Hamilton demonstrates that the story as we know it is largely a myth. The idea of something called Delta blues only emerged in the mid-twentieth century, the culmination of a longstanding white fascination with the exotic mysteries of Black music. Hamilton shows that the Delta blues was effectively invented by white pilgrims, seekers, and propagandists who headed deep into America's South in search of an authentic Black voice of rage and redemption. In their quest, and in the immense popularity of the music they championed, we confront America's ongoing love affair with racial difference.--From publisher description
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 251-293) and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Blues (Music) -- History and criticism
Field recordings -- United States -- History
MUSIC -- Genres & Styles -- Blues.
Blues (Music)
Field recordings
United States
Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc.
History
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9780786722143
0786722142