Here are some blues essays which may be of
interest to you. They were mainly written by enthusiasts of the blues as amateur
writers. All essays are copyright of the authors.
Please do not
reproduce or distribute them without their prior knowledge and permission.
They are provided here for
educational use only.
Mural at Tutwiler, Mississippi
Inscription next to the mural
Tutwiler Depot, Mississippi
"Then
one night at Tutwiler, as I nodded in the railroad station while waiting for a
train that had been delayed nine hours, life suddenly took me by the shoulder
and wakened me with a start.
A lean,
loose-jointed Negro had commenced plunking a guitar beside me while I slept. His
clothes were rags; his feet peeped out of his shoes. His face had on it some of
the sadness of the ages. As he played, he pressed a knife on the strings of the
guitar in a manner popularized by Hawaiian guitarists who used steel bars. The
effect was unforgettable. His song, too, struck me instantly: Goin' where the Southern cross' the Dog. The singer repeated the
line three times, accompanying himself on the guitar with the weirdest music I
had ever heard. The tune stayed in my mind. When the singer paused, I leaned
over and asked him what the words meant. He rolled his eyes, showing a trace of
mild amusement. Perhaps I should have known, but he didn't mind explaining. At
Moorhead the eastbound and the westbound met and crossed the north and
southbound trains four times a day. This fellow was going where the Southern
cross' the Dog, and he didn't care who knew it. He was simply singing about
Moorhead as he waited".
William C. Handy, Father of The Blues, Sidgwick
& Jackson, London 1957
 |
Blues At Sea
- by Max HaymesAlthough the sea-shanty is a form of work-song
and the latter is a universal phenomenon in one form or another, the
'shanty is never ascribed any origins from the African continent. For
whatever reasons, the various versions of the beginnings of the shanty
point to many a geographical birthplace - except Africa. In fact it is
not until African slaves were forcibly removed from their homelands that
they got involved with work-songs of the sea ...
|
 |
"I'm Gonna Hang This Mandolin Under
My Shoulder"
(Mandolins in the
Blues)
- by Max Haymes
Although the blues on record started in 1920, it
was not until 1924 when Willie Black was included on mandolin as part of
Whistler and His Jug Band, from Cincinnati, in an ensemble role for a
series of sides in September of that year. |
|
British Superstitions and The Blues
- by Max Haymes.....
I maintain that many superstitions, beliefs and customs were transported
from the British Isles over to southern USA in the nineteenth century,
and earlier. |
|
History & Mystery
(a long shot in early blues & gospel) - recordings of the Dixie Symphony Four by Max
Haymes
Sometime ago in the mid-1930s, (or a few years earlier) an
African American group known variously as the Dixie Symphony Four or Dixie
Symphony Singers recorded six performances for a record company on a radio
station in San Francisco, California.
|
Ida Cox c. 1924
From the collection of John Tefteller and Blues Images with permission,
www.bluesimages.com
|
Ida Cox / Old Bingham Town & The Nickel Plate Road
- by Max Haymes
... a very belated response to a query from
Paul Garon, listed in ‘Words Words Words’, Blues & Rhythm magazine No.
188. April, 2004. After listening to Chicago Bound Blues by
female singer Yack Taylor (1941), he said that the recording “begins
with Yack singing that she wants to leave old Bingham town, or at least
it sounds like that. Heading for Chicago, of course. But I can’t find
a Bingham Town anywhere”.
|
|
Roots of Blind Willie Johnson - by Max Haymes
.....
there were indeed quite substantial
number of songs and artists who influenced the Texas bottleneck guitar
ace, forming an important factor in the roots of Blind Willie Johnson. |
“Cherokee gourd booger dance mask ....”
|
Booger Rooger Blues
- by Max Haymes
The term came to
light - for Blues fans - via the recording by Blind Lemon Jefferson on the very
first reissue on the old Austrian Roots label (Roots RL 301 L.P. Blind Lemon
Jefferson Vol.1. c.1965. This was Booger Rooger Blues ..... |
Blind
Lemon
Jefferson (1890-1929)
|
British Colloquial Links and The Blues
- an in-depth study by Max Haymes
Although,
geographically and culturally, Africa is the place that is usually
associated with the roots of the Blues, by the layman, this is
acknowledged for the most part to be on a musicological basis, by the
Blues writers and aficionados. Even then traces of Africa are only
glimpsed momentarily, like the sun on a cloudy day. Some African words
have been retained in black American culture, including that of the
Blues singer, but they are exceptions rather than the rule. |
Bix Beiderbecke
Chalk pastels by Ray Smith
1999
|
The Blues & Jazz Poetry of Langston Hughes (Part
4)
- a personal appreciation
by Ray Smith
In 1930, funded by Mrs
Mason, Langston Hughes went to Cuba and met many writers and artists there. His
blues poems influenced one poet, Nicolás Guillén, to write ‘Motivos de Son’
(1930), hailed as the first ‘Negro’ poems in Cuba. Here are two poems
from that period. |
Slave coffle using wooden 'chains'
|
This article is part of a far larger
work ('Slave To The Blues') which seeks to focus on the secular roots of
the Blues back in slavery times in the USA. |
A mix of White, Black and Choctaw
|
The Red Man and the Blues
the link between the North American Indian and the Afro-American, an
in-depth study by
Max Haymes
The North American Indian and the Afro-American, including the Blues
singer, are two of the largest ethnic minorities in the United States.
The aim of this study is to point up a far stronger link between the two
of them than has been supposed, or even considered in the past.
|
Jim Jackson
|
This
seemingly humorous title actually has some dark undertones; as with many
apparently comedic blues
in the earlier era (1890-1943). The title and
first line were adapted from a religious song I Heard The Voice Of
Jesus Say .....
|
Updated:
Blues essays in Spanish -
translations by Argentinian
Andres Magallanes
(Ensayos sobre el Blues, en
español)
The Titanic and The Blues
- by Mike Ballantyne
Lil McClintock, Blues and Medicine Shows
- by
Mike Ballantyne
Hogan's Heroes - a tale
about not letting Best Bitter go bad by Ray
Smith
West Pennine
Boogie Blues
a tale about Champion Jack Dupree - by Ray Smith
Only Maloney
- a tale about how Only Maloney got his nickname
- by Ray Smith
I Woke Up This Morning -
Introduction to Blues for the Newcomer
- by Max Haymes &
Alan White
An Introduction to Bob Dylan's use of Pre-war Blues
- by Michael Gray
The English Music Hall Connection
- by Max Haymes
Ghost Trains of Mississippi
- by Michael Gray
Slave Shacks, Hopson Plantation,
Clarksdale, Mississippi
Survey of Black
Preachers in the South-before 1940
- by Max Haymes
Ghost
Trains of Mississippi - by Michael Gray
Got
the Blues for Chattanooga
-
by Max Haymes
Background
of Recorded Blues: No. 1 - Pea Vine Blues
 - by Max Haymes
Background of Recorded Blues:
No. 2 - Mobile and Western Line
- by Max Haymes
Background of
Recorded Blues: No. 3 - Beaver Slide Rag
- by Max Haymes
Background of
Recorded Blues: No. 4 - P. C. Railroad Blues
- by Max Haymes
Background of Recorded Blues: No. 5 - Nut Factory Blues
- by Max Haymes
Background of
Recorded Blues: No. 6 - Big Ship Blues
- by Max Haymes
Blues
Artists & Their Instruments
- by Dai Thomas
Catfish
Blues (Origins of a Blues) - by Max Haymes
“Now
Look-A Here, Blues.
I Wanta Talk To
You”*
- by Max Haymes
* “Conversation With
The Blues” Big Bill. 1941.
T
C I Blues - by Max Haymes
Back
to the Land of California
- Robert Johnson & "Sweet Home Chicago" - by Max Haymes
 "Katy's
at the Station, Santa Fe is in the Yard"
(on the rail trail of Bessie Tucker - Queen of the Texas Moaners)
-
by Max Haymes
"This Cat's Got the Yellow Dog Blues"
- origins of the term Yellow Dog
- by Max Haymes
"Worry Blues"- an in-depth study of Tom Dickson's recorded output
- by Max Haymes
Baby
Please Don't go (Origins of a Blues)
-
by Max Haymes
Spotlight
on Lucille Bogan (Part 1)
- by Max Haymes
Spotlight
on Lucille Bogan (Part 2)
- by Max Haymes
Spotlight
on Lucille Bogan (Part 3)
- by Max Haymes
Spotlight
on Lucille Bogan (Part 4)
- by Max Haymes
Spotlight
on Lucille Bogan (Part 5 - Conclusion)
- by Max Haymes
Blues
Where You From?
- by Max Haymes
Got The Blues For Mean Old Stack O' Lee
- by
Max Haymes
Lemon's Hoodoo Moan
(Hoodooism
and the Blues of Blind Lemon Jefferson)
-
by Max Haymes
Robert
Johnson, His Life, His Music, His Legacy
-
by Alan White
Original Hazelhurst Railroad Sign, Hazelhurst, Mississippi
Some Blues Roots of Rock 'N
Roll Music - by Max Haymes
Hoboes and Their Constant
Struggle with Railroad Workers
- by Alan White
One Way / Country Rock Blues
-
by Max Haymes
Gulfport Island Road Blues
- by Max Haymes
Home of Mississippi John Hurt,
Avalon, Mississippi
__________________________________________________________________________
If you have an essay on the
blues you would like publishing on
this site or wish to ask permission to copy one, please email
alan.white@earlyblues.com Thank you.
__________________________________________________________________________
Website and Photos © Copyright 2000-2012 Alan White. All Rights Reserved.
All essays are
©
copyright of the respective
authors.
All Rights Reserved.
For further information please email:
alan.white@earlyblues.com
|
