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Beyond the Crossroads : The Devil and the Blues Tradition - Adam Gussow

Beyond the Crossroads

The Devil and the Blues Tradition

By: Adam Gussow

eBook | 2 October 2017

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The devil is the most charismatic and important figure in the blues tradition. He's not just the music's namesake ("the devil's music"), but a shadowy presence who haunts an imagined Mississippi crossroads where, it is claimed, Delta bluesman Robert Johnson traded away his soul in exchange for extraordinary prowess on the guitar. Yet, as scholar and musician Adam Gussow argues, there is much more to the story of the devil and the blues than these cliched understandings.

In this groundbreaking study, Gussow takes the full measure of the devil's presence. Working from original transcriptions of more than 125 recordings released during the past ninety years, Gussow explores the varied uses to which black southern blues people have put this trouble-sowing, love-wrecking, but also empowering figure. The book culminates with a bold reinterpretation of Johnson's music and a provocative investigation of the way in which the citizens of Clarksdale, Mississippi, managed to rebrand a commercial hub as "the crossroads" in 1999, claiming Johnson and the devil as their own.

Industry Reviews
Gussow asks. . .of all the many kinds of African American popular music, why is/was it that blues alone has been singled out as the devil's music. . .?--American Music

on

You Can Find This eBook In

Non-FictionArts & EntertainmentMusicMusic Styles & GenresBluesSociety & CulturePopular Beliefs & Controversial KnowledgeFolklore Studies / Study of Myth (Mythology)Religion & BeliefsAlternative Belief SystemsOccult StudiesSatanism & Demonology

Other Editions and Formats

Paperback

Published: 30th October 2017

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