Music in American Life

Acknowledgments vi; A Word About the Music Examples ix; Introduction 1; 1. The Popular Blues Industry 1912-1920 10; The Birth of Popular Blues 10; The Nature and Scope of the Early Popular Blues Industry 15;The Development of the Popular Blues Industry 21; Blues Performances in the Mainstream 27; 2. The Identity and Idiom of Early Popular Blues 41; The Main Influences: Folk Blues and Tin Pan Alley 41; An Overview of Popular Blues Songs 44; The Five Categories of Popular Blues Songs 53; An Overview of Instrumental Blues 63; Some Distinctive Components of the Popular Blues Idiom 80; 3. Curing the Blues with the Blues 102; Introduction 102; Origins and Definitions of the Term ''Blues'' 103; Musical Alleviation of the Blues 107; Homeopathic and Allopathic Blues 113; 4. The Blues of W. C. Handy 141; Introduction 141; Blues from the Memphis Period (1909-1917) 142; Blues After the Move to New York (1917-1953) 177; Conclusion 185; 5. The Creativity of Early Southern Published Blues 196; Introduction 196; Southern Published Blues of 1912-1914 197; Euday L. Bowman 209; George W. Thomas 212; Perry Bradford 217; Southern Published Blues of 1915-1920 223; 6. Published Proto-Blues and the Evolution of the Twelve-Bar Sequence 234; Introduction 234; Development of the Blues Song 235; The Evolution of the Twelve-Bar Blues Sequence 242; Conclusion 269; Appendix: Titular Blues 1912-1915 279; Major Works Consulted 291