A hundred years on from its birth, the music continues to speak to the heart — an art form that also serves as social commentary, communal history, and cathartic release.
blues
Posted inFeature
“I Had to Face the Blues Every Day”
Soul and gospel singer Candi Staton let no hardship stand in the way of her voice, one that helped define the music of her generation.
Posted inStory
The Proving Grounds: Charley Crockett and the Story of Deep Ellum
Generations of musicians got their start busking the streets of the Deep Ellum neighborhood of Dallas, Texas. After a decade of ‘hobo-ing’ around cities like New Orleans, Paris, and New York, Charley Crockett discovered it was his turn.
Posted inArts & Culture, Nonfiction, Story
Shelved: Jimi Hendrix’s Black Gold Suite
The genius guitarist’s autobiographical, multi-song fantasy album sat in his drummer’s apartment for twenty years. Now in the care of the Hendrix estate, will it ever see the light of day?
Posted inArts & Culture, Books, Nonfiction, Story
Hellhound on the Money Trail
Standard recording contracts screwed Bluesmen out of royalties in the early 1900s, and the system was no different when Columbia released “Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings in 1990.”
Posted inArts & Culture, Nonfiction, Story
J.R.’s Jook and the Authenticity Mirage
When a young white musician gets invited to a house-party, the musicians he plays with show him a slice of blues culture many people assumed had died.
Posted inUncategorized
“Give a Sister Her Due”: Why Richmond, Virginia, Should Honor the Mother of Rock ‘n’ Roll
Legendary electric guitarist and gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe chose Richmond, Virginia as her home for over a decade. It’s about time the city honored her.
Posted inArts & Culture, Nonfiction, Quotes
How Did the Blues Become the Blues?
In one simple sentence in 1914, Columbus Bragg, an African American writer, helped codify the Blues genre, though he’s largest forgotten.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
How the Blues Conquered Tokyo
I couldn’t quite figure out why Japanese listeners had come to appreciate and savor the blues in the way that they seemed to—lavishly, devotedly. Blues is still an outlier genre in Japan, but it’s revered, topical, present. I’d spent my first couple of days in Tokyo hungrily trawling the city’s many excellent record stores, marveling […]