Nothing But the Blues

by Lawrence Cohn

Book Overview

It is our most passionate music, rooted in ancient Africa but brought to blossom in America at the doorstep of the twentieth century. It is a living heritage of song born in poverty, persecution, and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1558592717
• ISBN13: 9781558592711
• Release Date: December 1993
• Publisher: Abbeville Press
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 8.9" x 11.2"

Customer Reviews

Sweeping and Readable

This is a very enjoyable read. While fundamentally a blues history book, the chapters are organized topically along lines that will make sense to any blues enthusiast, and there are lots of pictures that (for me, anyway) help to cement the content in memory. Shots of musicians and albums pepper almost every last page. Comments on individual albums and songs, short anecdotes, and quotes keep the text moving at a brisk pace. Chapters cover the topics of roots, Texas and Deep South blues, women in the blues, gospel influences, urban blues, East Coast and Piedmont blues, a chapter on the various "field trips" taken by several people to record early blues, the roots of R & B, and blues today. The individual chapters were written by different authors, variously ranging from academics to blues publication writers. The material hangs together extraordinarily well, though - to the point where the differing authorship is hardly noticible, in the best intended sense. Unusual for most blues titles is also in-depth coverage of white blues, including commentary of the cross-overs between country music, particularly early country music, and the blues. The book includes a discography and bibliography. I would have really liked to have had some commentary with both, however, as they are pretty simplistic listings. For perspective on individual recordings, you'll have to go elsewhere. I use the "All Music Guide to the Blues" - All Music Guide to the Blues: The Definitive Guide to the Blues. As B.B. King says in his short introduction - this is a "loving presentation" of the blues. This is not a deep dive into controversies or academic arguments over roots and development. Rather, it focuses on sub-genres, artists themselves, labels, and recording and entertainment history. I'd recommend it anyone looking for perspective across the entire genre.

All-Inclusive Blues Reference

This book touches on many of the important blues styles and describes how the music evolved into its current state from the many roots to the many styles that are still alive today. This is a serious reference, packed with all kinds of useful information and hundreds of rare pictures for any serious blues enthusiast.

An excellent but readable reference book

This substantial book is filled with rare, many never before seen black and white photos of decades of blues players, accompanied with an entertaining and informative text.A great book for the blues fan, but readable enough for a newcomer to the genre. A must buy at an not unreasonable price, considering some slighter, less well researched and informative volumes.

Without doubt a "definitive reference"

Every once in awhile a book comes along that can virtually answer all your questions and at the same time incorporate stories on artists both obscure and well-known...that keeps you from putting it down [very difficult for a book that can be considered a reference work]. The pictures included alone are well worth the price of the book. Many of them rare and never seen before by many of the blues fans who would be interested in this work. If you are going to have one book in your home library on Blues....this is the one to have. Tom tkdp@castle.net