Delta Blues: the Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters who Revolutionized American Music

Artwork by Neil Harpe.

The blues grew out of the plantations and prisons, the
swampy marshes and fertile cotton fields of the Mississippi
Delta. With original research and keen insights, Ted Gioia
brings to life the stirring music of the Delta, evoking the
legendary figures who shaped its sound and ethos: Robert
Johnson, Charley Patton, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker,
Howlin? Wolf, B.B. King and others. Tracing the history of
the Delta blues from the field hollers and plantation music
of the nineteenth century to the exploits of modern-day
musicians in the Delta tradition, Delta Blues tells the full
story of this timeless and unforgettable music. No cultural
force boasts such humble origins or such world-conquering
reverberations. In this evocative rags-to-riches tale, Gioia
shows how the sounds the of the Delta altered the course of popular music in America and in the world beyond.

CONTENIDO:

-Preface and acknowledgments

1. The blues and the old kingdoms
2. Where the southern cross the dog
3. Dockery's plantation
4. Parchman Prison
5. Hard time killin' floor
6. Hellhound on my trail
7. I'm a rolling stone
8. Hooker' s boogie
9. Smokestack lightnin'
10. Riding with the king
11. The blues revival

-Notes
-Recommended listening
-For further reading
-Index