Seven.Oh.Three.
81 posts
Jun 09, 2011
3:52 PM
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I figured the next step in my rapidly growing obsession with the blues and blues harmonica is to dive into some good reading. I'm mostly talking about books. But magazines also. Adam posted about a review on his kick and stomp cd in some magazine and it got me thinking. I apologize, I'm sure there are many old threads about this. Maybe there is some new stuff since we last talked about this. So my questions are:
-any good blues magazine recommendations? Preferably having something to do with harmonica.
- any good books about Blues harmonica in general? Or certain artists?
Thanks!
7.o.3.
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Jaybird
232 posts
Jun 09, 2011
4:19 PM
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Get yourself a copy of "Harmonicas, Harps, and Heavy Breathers, by Kim Field.
http://www.amazon.com/Harmonicas-Harps-Heavy-Breathers-Instrument/product-reviews/0815410204/ref=ep_readall_reviews?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
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The7thDave
247 posts
Jun 09, 2011
4:31 PM
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You've already read Adam's books, right? "Mr. Satan's Apprentice" and "Journeyman's Road." Good reads.
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--Dave
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* BTMFH *
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Last Edited by on Jun 09, 2011 4:31 PM
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Seven.Oh.Three.
82 posts
Jun 09, 2011
4:45 PM
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I actually haven't read Adams books. Here's why, I use Adams lessons, Im on Adams web page and I listen to Adams music. If I add "I read Adams books" I might end up on some weird stalker list. Ya know?
7.o.3
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The7thDave
248 posts
Jun 09, 2011
4:53 PM
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It's a long list--nobody would notice.
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--Dave
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* BTMFH *
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12gagedan
48 posts
Jun 09, 2011
4:59 PM
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I really enjoyed "Mr. Satan's Apprentice" Kim Field's book read like a medical journal, or the Old Testament or something. I gave it a good shot, but I couldn't make myself finish it. The Little Walter and Muddy biographies that came out a couple years ago were pretty good.
As for magazines, I always liked Blues Review over Living Blues, but I read them both.
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crawfishdave
13 posts
Jun 09, 2011
5:15 PM
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"I Can't Be Satisfied: The Life and Times of Muddy Waters" is a great book, as is "Moanin' at Midnight: The Life and Times of Howlin' Wolf" ... by different authors in spite of the similar titles. I'm reading the Howlin' Wolf book a second time, it's so good. There is a book called "Escaping the Delta," about Robert Johnson, but it gets a bit scholarly for me, at times. I agree with Dan on the magazines.
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KingoBad
761 posts
Jun 09, 2011
6:45 PM
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HoneyBoy Edwards autobiography "The World Don't Owe Me Nothing" is fantastic too.
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Danny
Last Edited by on Jun 09, 2011 6:45 PM
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BronxHarp
57 posts
Jun 09, 2011
7:13 PM
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You're denying yourself some serious reading pleasure if you decide not to read Mr. Satan's Apprentice. It's a great memoir/story, really well written, and gives you insight into this interesting, multi-faceted person that you've chosen to learn from (like we all have). So, enjoy!
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Seven.Oh.Three.
83 posts
Jun 09, 2011
7:34 PM
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I'm not saying I won't read Adams books. I'm just not ready to be on that list YET. I'm sure I will be eventually. I'm addicted to the things I've listed above and I'm sure I'd live his books.
Thanks for the suggestions so far!
Living blues and blues review are every other month. Do they come on the same month or alternate? Thanks!
7.o.3.
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BAG
68 posts
Jun 09, 2011
8:53 PM
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SH#T! JUst found about "Journeyman's Road: Modern Blues Lives from Faulkner's Mississippi to Post-9/11 ". Now I gotta buy that! Loved "Apprentice"
Has anybody read a book by Tony Glover about Little Walter? Is it worth me tracking down?
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slowblowfuse
40 posts
Jun 10, 2011
7:29 AM
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Deep Blues by Robert Palmer
The Land Where the Blues Began by Alan Lomax
The Little Walter biography is fantastic as well. Can't recall the name of the writer just now, sorry.
Bye
Ruurd
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Delta Dirt
194 posts
Jun 10, 2011
8:20 AM
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Living Blues Magazine is published monthy or once bi monthly.
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mr_so&so
447 posts
Jun 10, 2011
8:37 AM
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+1 for Robert Palmer's "Deep Blues", very comprehensive and entertaining too.
I once found an original edition (early 1960's) of LeRoi Jones' "Blues People" in a used book store. It's the first book on blues/jazz by a black American. It's really more of a cultural history of black Americans using blues and jazz as the main theme throughout. There is some pretty interesting stuff on the conversion of slaves to Christianity, and the source of the idea of blues as the Devil's music, if yer into some background reading. It was also pretty radical in it's day.
OT, one of the best music-related biographies I've ever read is Woody Guthrie's autobiography, "Bound for Glory". Not about blues, but about hard times and the blues ethos for sure.
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Spider
25 posts
Jun 10, 2011
11:36 AM
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The Little Walter book by D. Glover is great, a must read for all blues fans. The autobiography by Eric Clapton is a good read, I would have been embarrassed to admit some of the things he did. I'm reading a biography of SRV right now that is pretty good by Joe Patoski.
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Spider
26 posts
Jun 10, 2011
11:41 AM
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I just remembered, if you like The Allman Bros., the book by Scott Freeman is awesome.
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DanP
178 posts
Jun 10, 2011
6:15 PM
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The All Music Guide to THe Blues 3rd Edition is a good introduction to blues music. It has capsule biographies of each of the blues artists whose recordings are reviewed plus essays on sub-genres of the blues such as harmonica blues, Delta blues, Chicago blues, etc. As for a good blues magazine, Living Blues is one of the best, published in Mississippi-the heart of blues country. Big City Blues is another good blues magazine that highlights todays Chicago music scene but covers other regions as well.
Last Edited by on Jun 11, 2011 11:35 AM
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harpinonfire
39 posts
Jun 11, 2011
12:27 PM
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When I purchased Harmonica for dummies I accidently pushed the wrong button and got Blues for Dummies by Lonnie Brooks, Cub Koda and Wayne Baker Brooks. Turned out to be fan excellent read.
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groyster1
1102 posts
Jun 11, 2011
1:55 PM
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@BAG
I highly recommend tony glovers book about little walter if youre a big LW fan like myself
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Seven.Oh.Three.
85 posts
Jun 12, 2011
3:03 PM
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Thanks for all the input! I ordered a copy of moanin at midnight.
I'm sure I'll reference this thread for a long time to come.
7.o.3.
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isaacullah
1519 posts
Jun 13, 2011
10:14 AM
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I'm at a major University, and so I can avail myself of the music library anytime I want. Consequently, I've been able to read quite a few books on the Blues. My absolute favorite has to be the Honeyboy Edwards autobiography "The World Don't Owe Me Nothing" (also mentioned by KingBad above). It's just a unique piece of work since it's literally oral storytelling by Honeyboy written down and organized by the author's. It's just phenomenal. Adam's books are up top on my list too, as there is really nothing else like them as well. Also he chronicles a very different time period from most Blues books (which are usually focused on one "Golden Age" or another, or which are written by a biographer and chronicle a whole life from the third person). There's some other good ones out there too, but I'd say start there. For facts and little vignettes of peoples memories about past events, the Muddy Water's biography and the Little Walter biography are good reads. The Charley Patton bio was interesting because of the setting and timeperiod, but not all that well written or organized. The Chess Records Story was a bit boring and overly "chronological" or something. I've read a bunch more Blues books, but nothing else that really stuck in my head...
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Joe_L
1287 posts
Jun 13, 2011
12:34 PM
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If you're interested in the Chicago stuff, I would recommend Chicago Blues: The City & the Music by Mike Rowe. It's an excellent book and it covers some of the lesser known players.
I would also recommend Steve Cushing's book, Blues Before Sunrise: The Radio Interviews. Steve has been hosting a radio show out of Chicago for decades. Over the years, he has conducted interviews with a multitude of great artists.
The Little Walter Story is an excellent read. It's was written by Tony Glover, Scott Dirks and Ward Gaines. Scott Dirks is a Little Walter freak who knows more about Little Walter than Little Walter probably ever did.
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omaha
31 posts
Jun 14, 2011
6:45 PM
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Been reading Satan's Apprentice since I returned home from Hill Country Harmonica and it is a great, down to earth book about personal relationships and the powerful relationship a musician has with the music. A must read for anyone who plays harmonica. IMHO
The other book I just picked up is Dick Waterman's Between Midnight and Day: The Last Unpublished Blues Archive. He had left behind a signed copy at the Clark House in Clarksdale. From the moment I picked it up I knew I had to own it. http://www.amazon.com/Between-Midnight-Day-Unpublished-Archive/dp/1886069751
Great thread!!
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kudzurunner
2522 posts
Jun 15, 2011
3:41 AM
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I'll second Isaac's feelings about Honeyboy Edwards's autobiography being the best of the genre. If blues autobiography is what you're after, you should also try the following:
Willie Dixon, I AM THE BLUES
Big Bill Broonzy, BIG BILL BLUES
Mance Lipscomb, I SAY ME FOR A PARABLE
B. B. King, BLUES ALL AROUND ME
Ruth Brown, MISS RHYTHM
Yank Rachell, BLUES MANDOLIN MAN
When I taught a course this past spring entitled "Robert Johnson, the Devil's Music, and the Blues," the syllabus contained the following primary readings:
Paul Oliver, Blues Fell This Morning: Meaning in the Blues
Jon Michael Spencer, Blues and Evil
Elijah Wald, Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues
*Julio Finn, The Bluesman
Teresa L. Reed, The Holy Profane: Religion in Black Popular Music
John M. Giggie, After Redemption: Jim Crow and the Transformation of African American Religion in the Delta, 1875-1915
Ace Atkins, Crossroad Blues
Walter Mosley, R.L.’s Dream
Akira Hiramoto, Me and the Devil Blues 1: The Unreal Life of Robert Johnson
**Crossroads [film] starring Ralph Macchio and Joe Seneca
The Hiramoto was a mistake; it's a two-inch-thick Japanese comic book (manga) that wildly fictionalizes Johnson's life.
The Wald and Mosley are what I'd start with, and of course if you've never seen the movie CROSSROADS, you should see that. It holds up.
Rorie Block apparently has a new memoir. There are very few full length autobios/memoirs written by white blues performers. Dr. John has one: UNDER A HOODOO MOON, but it's more r&b than blues. There's Mezz Mezzrow's REALLY THE BLUES, which is essential reading, but it, too, is more about jazz. Sidney Bechet's TREAT IT GENTLE is a jazz autobio and it has some amazing stuff in it. I'm surprised that Charlie Musselwhite, Kim Wilson, and Rick Estrin haven't set down their lives in print; Rick's especially would be of great interest.
Last Edited by on Jun 15, 2011 3:43 AM
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Spider
27 posts
Jun 15, 2011
11:55 AM
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I forgot B.B. King's book, that's a great read!
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Seven.Oh.Three.
97 posts
Jul 06, 2011
6:13 PM
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Here we go:
My name is 7.o.3. And I have an addiction. For the last six months I've been addicted to Adam Gussow. I'm utilizing his harp instructional videos, I'm constantly on his internet harp forum and am now reading one of his books.
Phew, I'm glad to have that off my chest.
I finished Moanin at midnight: the life and times of Howlin' Wolf and just picked up my copy of Mister Satan's Apprentice. I can highly recommend the Howlin Wolf book. It was a great read and I learned a lot. Not only about The Wolf but also about the blues in general.
7.o.3.
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2chops
9 posts
Jul 09, 2011
3:10 PM
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This is a great thread. I am an avid reader of things I'm interrested in. And I'm nuts about the harp. I have long held the opinion that the more you educate yourself about your interrest, the better you'll be. Thanks for all the recommended reads. I'll be sure to check some of them out.
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