Reminder: First readings from Deep blues

A reminder that for Tuesday morning we have our first reading from Palmer's Deep blues, namely the Prologue ("It wasn't no big money, but we's doin' it") and Chapter 1 ("Beginnings").

There's a lot of great and important stuff in these two sections, so give them the time they deserve. Take some notes, blog a little about what you think are some of the most important (or confusing) points, and be prepared to discuss them in class next week. Some of the material in the Prologue is as good an argument for why I care about roots music as any I've read.

Its story...is an epic as noble and as essentially American as any in our history. It's the story of a small and deprived group of people who created, against tremendous odds, something that has enriched us all.

He also helps lay out some of the things we need to be paying attention to:

And we need to understand the people who made and listened to blues, not just as blacks or oppressed Americans or romantic archetypes or clever technicians or successful entertainers but as particular people who made particular personal and artistic choices in a particular place at a particular time.

Chapter 1 has some vital history, and nicely summarizes some of our sense of the important but complex and subtle role of Africa in all this. The idea of vocal masking and the "African fondness for muddying perfectly clean sounds" is crucial to making sense of the early recordings of people like Charley Patton and Blind Willie Johnson (not to mention the wonderful music of Jimi Hendrix).

P.S. I heard today that I will not be doing jury service next week, so I'll definitely be there Tuesday.

P.P.S. See you Sunday!