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blues

Man in a suit playing guitar onstage, his face overcome with emotion
Posted inNonfiction

More Than a Feeling: A Blues Reading List

by Chris Wheatley July 28, 2022October 20, 2022

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.

Singer Candi Staton, smiling, hands on her hips, over a patchwork clip of images of her over the years.
Posted inFeature

“I Had to Face the Blues Every Day”

by David Gambacorta July 12, 2022October 20, 2022

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

by Jonny Auping July 30, 2020November 25, 2022

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

by Tom Maxwell July 16, 2019February 10, 2023

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 inNonfiction

Remembering Dr. John

by Tom Maxwell June 17, 2019February 24, 2023

Mac Rebennack devoted himself to New Orleans culture.

Posted inArts & Culture, Books, Nonfiction, Story

Hellhound on the Money Trail

by Longreads December 18, 2018October 19, 2022

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

by Longreads September 10, 2018October 19, 2022

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

by Krista Stevens April 12, 2018October 19, 2022

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?

by Aaron Gilbreath September 27, 2017October 19, 2022

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

by Aaron Gilbreath January 18, 2017October 19, 2022

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 […]

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