From the field cries and work chants of Southern
Negroes emerged a rich and vital music called the
country blues, an intensely personal expression of the
pains and pleasures of black life. This music--recorded
during the twenties by men like Blind Lemon Jefferson,
Big Bill Broonzy, and Robert Johnson--had all but
disappeared from memory until the folk music revival of
the late 1950's created a new and appreciable audience
for the country blues. On of the pioneering studies of
this unjustly-neglected music was Sam Charter's The
Country Blues. In it, Charters recreates the special
world of the country bluesman--that lone black performer
accompanying himself on the acoustic guitar, his music a
rich reflection of his own emotional life. Virtually
rewriting the history of the blues, Charters
reconstructs its evolution and dissemination, from the
first tentative soundings on the Mississippi Delta
through the emergence, with Elvis Presley, of rock and
roll.His carefully-researched biographies of
near-legendary performers like Lonnie Johnson, Blind Boy
Fuller, and Tampa Red--coupled with his perceptive
discussions of their recordings--pay tribute to a kind
of artistry that will never be seen or heard again. And
his portraits of the still-strumming Sonny Terry,
Brownie McGhee, Muddy Waters, and Lightnin'
Hopkins--point up the undying strength and vitality of
the country blues. |
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