Delta Blues

From the field hollers and ring shouts of the 19th-century plantations to the electrified exploits of Delta expats John Lee Hooker and B. B. King, Delta Blues-'destined to be viewed as a classic of blues scholarship' (Blues Revue)-traces the rough stories of the music of the Mississippi Delta, raw and ragged as the singers themselves. Rooting himself in the thick-as-tar Delta soil, Gioia follows the plaintive wails of battered guitars across cotton fields and prison farms as the music raced through the Delta and beyond: from Vicksburg to Memphis, Chicago to New York, captured in vinyl and released on radios across America. With original research and keen insight, Ted Gioia-author of West Coast Jazz and critically-acclaimed The History of Jazz-provides 'a fascinating excavation of Delta Blues history' (Living Blues), evoking the legendary figures who shaped its sound and ethos: Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and others. No other cultural force boasts such humble origins or such world-changing reverberations. In this evocative rags-to-riches tale, told 'with skill and conviction' (The Atlantic Monthly), Gioia shows how the humble sounds of the Delta altered forever the course of popular music.