Author: Daniel Beaumont
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199753121
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 217
Book Description
In June of 1964, three young, white blues fans set out from New York City in a Volkswagen, heading for the Mississippi Delta in search of a musical legend. So begins Preachin' the Blues, the biography of American blues signer and guitarist Eddie James "Son" House, Jr. (1902 - 1988). House pioneered an innovative style, incorporating strong repetitive rhythms with elements of southern gospel and spiritual vocals. A seminal figure in the history of the Delta blues, he was an important, direct influence on such figures as Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson. The landscape of Son House's life and the vicissitudes he endured make for an absorbing narrative, threaded through with a tension between House's religious beliefs and his spells of commitment to a lifestyle that implicitly rejected it. Drinking, womanizing, and singing the blues caused this tension that is palpable in his music, and becomes explicit in one of his finest performances, "Preachin' the Blues." Large parts of House's life are obscure, not least because his own accounts of them were inconsistent. Author Daniel Beaumont offers a chronology/topography of House's youth, taking into account evidence that conflicts sharply with the well-worn fable, and he illuminates the obscurity of House's two decades in Rochester, NY between his departure from Mississippi in the 1940s and his "rediscovery" by members of the Folk Revival Movement in 1964. Beaumont gives a detailed and perceptive account of House's primary musical legacy: his recordings for Paramount in 1930 and for the Library of Congress in 1941-42. In the course of his research Beaumont has unearthed not only connections among the many scattered facts and fictions but new information about a rumoured murder in Mississippi, and a charge of manslaughter on Long Island - incidents which bring tragic light upon House's lifelong struggles and self-imposed disappearance, and give trenchant meaning to the moving music of this early blues legend.
Mule Kick Blues
Author: Michael McClure
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780872868144
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 150
Book Description
The final book of poems from a Beat Generation legend, Mule Kick Blues finds McClure restlessly innovating until the end. Completed over the last years of his life, Mule Kick Blues is the final book of poems by Beat Generation legend Michael McClure. Taking its title from an innovative sequence of homages to blues musicians like Leadbelly, Willie Dixon, and Howlin' Wolf, and evoking Kerouac's concept of "blues" poems, Mule Kick Blues contains stark meditations on the poet's mortality as well as the nature and zen poems for which McClure is known. With shout-outs to lifelong friends like Philip Whalen, Diane di Prima, and Gary Snyder, the long poem"Fragments of Narcissus," and the profound and moving sequence "Death Poems," Mule Kick Blues is a definitive statement by one of the most significant American poets of the last 60 years. "His validity and his intelligence and his intensity and his curiosity about the complexly diverse world in which we live is to me extraordinarily interesting."--Robert Creeley
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780872868144
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 150
Book Description
The final book of poems from a Beat Generation legend, Mule Kick Blues finds McClure restlessly innovating until the end. Completed over the last years of his life, Mule Kick Blues is the final book of poems by Beat Generation legend Michael McClure. Taking its title from an innovative sequence of homages to blues musicians like Leadbelly, Willie Dixon, and Howlin' Wolf, and evoking Kerouac's concept of "blues" poems, Mule Kick Blues contains stark meditations on the poet's mortality as well as the nature and zen poems for which McClure is known. With shout-outs to lifelong friends like Philip Whalen, Diane di Prima, and Gary Snyder, the long poem"Fragments of Narcissus," and the profound and moving sequence "Death Poems," Mule Kick Blues is a definitive statement by one of the most significant American poets of the last 60 years. "His validity and his intelligence and his intensity and his curiosity about the complexly diverse world in which we live is to me extraordinarily interesting."--Robert Creeley
Preachin' the Blues
Author: Daniel Beaumont
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199753121
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 217
Book Description
In June of 1964, three young, white blues fans set out from New York City in a Volkswagen, heading for the Mississippi Delta in search of a musical legend. So begins Preachin' the Blues, the biography of American blues signer and guitarist Eddie James "Son" House, Jr. (1902 - 1988). House pioneered an innovative style, incorporating strong repetitive rhythms with elements of southern gospel and spiritual vocals. A seminal figure in the history of the Delta blues, he was an important, direct influence on such figures as Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson. The landscape of Son House's life and the vicissitudes he endured make for an absorbing narrative, threaded through with a tension between House's religious beliefs and his spells of commitment to a lifestyle that implicitly rejected it. Drinking, womanizing, and singing the blues caused this tension that is palpable in his music, and becomes explicit in one of his finest performances, "Preachin' the Blues." Large parts of House's life are obscure, not least because his own accounts of them were inconsistent. Author Daniel Beaumont offers a chronology/topography of House's youth, taking into account evidence that conflicts sharply with the well-worn fable, and he illuminates the obscurity of House's two decades in Rochester, NY between his departure from Mississippi in the 1940s and his "rediscovery" by members of the Folk Revival Movement in 1964. Beaumont gives a detailed and perceptive account of House's primary musical legacy: his recordings for Paramount in 1930 and for the Library of Congress in 1941-42. In the course of his research Beaumont has unearthed not only connections among the many scattered facts and fictions but new information about a rumoured murder in Mississippi, and a charge of manslaughter on Long Island - incidents which bring tragic light upon House's lifelong struggles and self-imposed disappearance, and give trenchant meaning to the moving music of this early blues legend.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199753121
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 217
Book Description
In June of 1964, three young, white blues fans set out from New York City in a Volkswagen, heading for the Mississippi Delta in search of a musical legend. So begins Preachin' the Blues, the biography of American blues signer and guitarist Eddie James "Son" House, Jr. (1902 - 1988). House pioneered an innovative style, incorporating strong repetitive rhythms with elements of southern gospel and spiritual vocals. A seminal figure in the history of the Delta blues, he was an important, direct influence on such figures as Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson. The landscape of Son House's life and the vicissitudes he endured make for an absorbing narrative, threaded through with a tension between House's religious beliefs and his spells of commitment to a lifestyle that implicitly rejected it. Drinking, womanizing, and singing the blues caused this tension that is palpable in his music, and becomes explicit in one of his finest performances, "Preachin' the Blues." Large parts of House's life are obscure, not least because his own accounts of them were inconsistent. Author Daniel Beaumont offers a chronology/topography of House's youth, taking into account evidence that conflicts sharply with the well-worn fable, and he illuminates the obscurity of House's two decades in Rochester, NY between his departure from Mississippi in the 1940s and his "rediscovery" by members of the Folk Revival Movement in 1964. Beaumont gives a detailed and perceptive account of House's primary musical legacy: his recordings for Paramount in 1930 and for the Library of Congress in 1941-42. In the course of his research Beaumont has unearthed not only connections among the many scattered facts and fictions but new information about a rumoured murder in Mississippi, and a charge of manslaughter on Long Island - incidents which bring tragic light upon House's lifelong struggles and self-imposed disappearance, and give trenchant meaning to the moving music of this early blues legend.
Early Downhome Blues
Author: Jeff Todd Titon
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 9781469616919
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 348
Book Description
Hailed as a classic in music studies when it was first published in 1977, Early Downhome Blues is a detailed look at traditional country blues artists and their work. Combining musical analysis and cultural history approaches, Titon examines the origins of downhome blues in African American society. He also explores what happened to the art form when the blues were commercially recorded and became part of the larger American culture. From forty-seven musical transcriptions, Titon derives a grammar of early downhome blues melody. His book is enriched with the recollections of blues performers, audience members, and those working in the recording industry. In a new afterword, Titon reflects on the genesis of this book in the blues revival of the 1960s and the politics of tourism in the current revival under way.
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 9781469616919
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 348
Book Description
Hailed as a classic in music studies when it was first published in 1977, Early Downhome Blues is a detailed look at traditional country blues artists and their work. Combining musical analysis and cultural history approaches, Titon examines the origins of downhome blues in African American society. He also explores what happened to the art form when the blues were commercially recorded and became part of the larger American culture. From forty-seven musical transcriptions, Titon derives a grammar of early downhome blues melody. His book is enriched with the recollections of blues performers, audience members, and those working in the recording industry. In a new afterword, Titon reflects on the genesis of this book in the blues revival of the 1960s and the politics of tourism in the current revival under way.
Delta Blues Guitar
Author: Stefan Grossman
Publisher: Alfred Music Publishing
ISBN: 9780739042809
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 68
Book Description
The Early Masters of American Blues series provides the unique opportunity to study the true roots of modern blues. Stefan Grossman, noted roots-blues guitarist and musicologist, has compiled this fascinating collection of 14 songs from seven pivotal early blues guitarists from the Mississippi Delta. In addition to Stefan's expert transcriptions, the book includes online audio containing the original artist's recordings so you can hear and feel the music, as it was originally performed. Artists featured: WILLIE BROWN: (Future Blues; M&O Blues; Ragged and Dirty); SON HOUSE: (Dry Spell Blues; My Black Mama); SKIP JAMES: (Devil Got My Woman; Hard Time Killin' Floor; Special Rider); HAMBONE WILLIE NEWBERN: (Roll and Tumble Blues); CHARLIE PATTON: (Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues; Stone Pony Blues; 34 Blues); ARTHUR PETTIS: (Good Boy Blues); ROBERT WILKINS: (That's No Way to Get Along).
Publisher: Alfred Music Publishing
ISBN: 9780739042809
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 68
Book Description
The Early Masters of American Blues series provides the unique opportunity to study the true roots of modern blues. Stefan Grossman, noted roots-blues guitarist and musicologist, has compiled this fascinating collection of 14 songs from seven pivotal early blues guitarists from the Mississippi Delta. In addition to Stefan's expert transcriptions, the book includes online audio containing the original artist's recordings so you can hear and feel the music, as it was originally performed. Artists featured: WILLIE BROWN: (Future Blues; M&O Blues; Ragged and Dirty); SON HOUSE: (Dry Spell Blues; My Black Mama); SKIP JAMES: (Devil Got My Woman; Hard Time Killin' Floor; Special Rider); HAMBONE WILLIE NEWBERN: (Roll and Tumble Blues); CHARLIE PATTON: (Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues; Stone Pony Blues; 34 Blues); ARTHUR PETTIS: (Good Boy Blues); ROBERT WILKINS: (That's No Way to Get Along).
Half-Blood Blues
Author: Esi Edugyan
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1466802847
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 329
Book Description
Winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize Man Booker Prize Finalist 2011 An Oprah Magazine Best Book of the Year Shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction Berlin, 1939. The Hot Time Swingers, a popular jazz band, has been forbidden to play by the Nazis. Their young trumpet-player Hieronymus Falk, declared a musical genius by none other than Louis Armstrong, is arrested in a Paris café. He is never heard from again. He was twenty years old, a German citizen. And he was black. Berlin, 1952. Falk is a jazz legend. Hot Time Swingers band members Sid Griffiths and Chip Jones, both African Americans from Baltimore, have appeared in a documentary about Falk. When they are invited to attend the film's premier, Sid's role in Falk's fate will be questioned and the two old musicians set off on a surprising and strange journey. From the smoky bars of pre-war Berlin to the salons of Paris, Sid leads the reader through a fascinating, little-known world as he describes the friendships, love affairs and treacheries that led to Falk's incarceration in Sachsenhausen. Esi Edugyan's Half-Blood Blues is a story about music and race, love and loyalty, and the sacrifices we ask of ourselves, and demand of others, in the name of art.
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1466802847
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 329
Book Description
Winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize Man Booker Prize Finalist 2011 An Oprah Magazine Best Book of the Year Shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction Berlin, 1939. The Hot Time Swingers, a popular jazz band, has been forbidden to play by the Nazis. Their young trumpet-player Hieronymus Falk, declared a musical genius by none other than Louis Armstrong, is arrested in a Paris café. He is never heard from again. He was twenty years old, a German citizen. And he was black. Berlin, 1952. Falk is a jazz legend. Hot Time Swingers band members Sid Griffiths and Chip Jones, both African Americans from Baltimore, have appeared in a documentary about Falk. When they are invited to attend the film's premier, Sid's role in Falk's fate will be questioned and the two old musicians set off on a surprising and strange journey. From the smoky bars of pre-war Berlin to the salons of Paris, Sid leads the reader through a fascinating, little-known world as he describes the friendships, love affairs and treacheries that led to Falk's incarceration in Sachsenhausen. Esi Edugyan's Half-Blood Blues is a story about music and race, love and loyalty, and the sacrifices we ask of ourselves, and demand of others, in the name of art.
The Spirituals and the Blues
Author: James H. Cone
Publisher: Orbis Books
ISBN: 0883448432
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 172
Book Description
Cone explores two classic aspects of African-American culture--the spirituals and the blues. He tells the captivating story of how slaves and the children of slaves used this music to affirm their essential humanity in the face of oppression. The blues are shown to be a "this-worldly" expression of cultural and political rebellion. The spirituals tell about the "attempt to carve out a significant existence in a very trying situation".
Publisher: Orbis Books
ISBN: 0883448432
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 172
Book Description
Cone explores two classic aspects of African-American culture--the spirituals and the blues. He tells the captivating story of how slaves and the children of slaves used this music to affirm their essential humanity in the face of oppression. The blues are shown to be a "this-worldly" expression of cultural and political rebellion. The spirituals tell about the "attempt to carve out a significant existence in a very trying situation".
Country Blues Songbook
Author: Stefan Grossman
Publisher: Oak Publications
ISBN: 1783234547
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 208
Book Description
The shellac of the 20's, 30's and 40's caught the fleeting moment, the spirit of the times; the raunchy ragtime, barrelhouse boogie and the country blues. Some of those records will never be replaced. Some, never will be heard again. Many of those songs are here in printed form for the first time, as an only monument to a pristine era never to happen again. This is a valued collection of the great country blues — as sung and played by the greatest of the country bluesmen — as collected and annotated by Stefan Grossman, Hal Grossman and Stephen Calt: Aberdeen Mississippi Blues/Booker White'Bout A Spoonful/Mance LipscombAlabama Blues/Robert WilkinsAin't You Sorry?/Mance LipscombAll Night Long/Skip JamesAt Home Blues/Sam "Lightnin' " HopkinsAvalon Blues/Mississippi John HurtAwful Fix Blues/Buddy Boy HawkinsBanty Rooster Blues/Charlie PattonBeer Drinkin' Women/R.K. TurnerBig Chief Blues/Furry LewisBig Leg Blues/Mississippi John HurtBird Nest Bound/Charlie PattonBob McKinney/Henry ThomasBud Russell Blues/Sam "Lightnin'" HopkinsBull Frog Blues/William HarrisCandy Man Blues/Mississippi John HurtCasey Jones/Furry LewisCatfish Blues/Skip JamesCharlie James/Mance LipscombCoffee Blues/Mississippi John HurtCorinne, Corinna/Mississippi John HurtCounty Farm Blues/Son HouseCrossroad Blues/Robert JohnsonCrow Jane/Skip JamesCypress Grove Blues/Skip JamesDepot Blues/Son HouseDevil Got My Woman/Skip JamesDevil in the Lion's Den/Sam CollinsDough Roller Blues/Joe CallicottDown the Dirt Road/Charlie PattonDrunken Spree/Skip JamesDry Well Blues/Charlie PattonFallin' Down Blues/Robert WilkinsFuture Blues/Willie BrownGet Away Blues/Robert WilkinsHambone Blues/Ed BellHammer Blues/Charlie PattonHell Hound On My Trail/Robert JohnsonHot Jelly Roll Blues/George CarterHow Long Buck/Skip JamesI'm Satis fied/Mississippi John HurtJinx Blues/Son HouseKnocking Down Windows/Mance LipscombLong Train Blues/Robert WilkinsMarried Woman Blues/Joe Callicott
Publisher: Oak Publications
ISBN: 1783234547
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 208
Book Description
The shellac of the 20's, 30's and 40's caught the fleeting moment, the spirit of the times; the raunchy ragtime, barrelhouse boogie and the country blues. Some of those records will never be replaced. Some, never will be heard again. Many of those songs are here in printed form for the first time, as an only monument to a pristine era never to happen again. This is a valued collection of the great country blues — as sung and played by the greatest of the country bluesmen — as collected and annotated by Stefan Grossman, Hal Grossman and Stephen Calt: Aberdeen Mississippi Blues/Booker White'Bout A Spoonful/Mance LipscombAlabama Blues/Robert WilkinsAin't You Sorry?/Mance LipscombAll Night Long/Skip JamesAt Home Blues/Sam "Lightnin' " HopkinsAvalon Blues/Mississippi John HurtAwful Fix Blues/Buddy Boy HawkinsBanty Rooster Blues/Charlie PattonBeer Drinkin' Women/R.K. TurnerBig Chief Blues/Furry LewisBig Leg Blues/Mississippi John HurtBird Nest Bound/Charlie PattonBob McKinney/Henry ThomasBud Russell Blues/Sam "Lightnin'" HopkinsBull Frog Blues/William HarrisCandy Man Blues/Mississippi John HurtCasey Jones/Furry LewisCatfish Blues/Skip JamesCharlie James/Mance LipscombCoffee Blues/Mississippi John HurtCorinne, Corinna/Mississippi John HurtCounty Farm Blues/Son HouseCrossroad Blues/Robert JohnsonCrow Jane/Skip JamesCypress Grove Blues/Skip JamesDepot Blues/Son HouseDevil Got My Woman/Skip JamesDevil in the Lion's Den/Sam CollinsDough Roller Blues/Joe CallicottDown the Dirt Road/Charlie PattonDrunken Spree/Skip JamesDry Well Blues/Charlie PattonFallin' Down Blues/Robert WilkinsFuture Blues/Willie BrownGet Away Blues/Robert WilkinsHambone Blues/Ed BellHammer Blues/Charlie PattonHell Hound On My Trail/Robert JohnsonHot Jelly Roll Blues/George CarterHow Long Buck/Skip JamesI'm Satis fied/Mississippi John HurtJinx Blues/Son HouseKnocking Down Windows/Mance LipscombLong Train Blues/Robert WilkinsMarried Woman Blues/Joe Callicott
Huge Dreams
Author: Michael McClure
Publisher: Penguin Books
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 198
Book Description
In The New Book / A Book of Torture, a classic example of immediate biological expression, Michael McClure simultaneously delves into, and delivers himself from, the self-christened "dark night of the soul." Star, a book of wide-ranging exploration, spiritual discovery, and political protest, springs from the essence of our humanity - emotions, the sensations of eros, and play.
Publisher: Penguin Books
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 198
Book Description
In The New Book / A Book of Torture, a classic example of immediate biological expression, Michael McClure simultaneously delves into, and delivers himself from, the self-christened "dark night of the soul." Star, a book of wide-ranging exploration, spiritual discovery, and political protest, springs from the essence of our humanity - emotions, the sensations of eros, and play.
The Real Blues Book (Songbook)
Author: Hal Leonard Corp.
Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation
ISBN: 145848954X
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 851
Book Description
(Fake Book). Since the 1970s, The Real Book has been the most popular book for gigging jazz musicians. Hal Leonard is proud to publish completely legal and legitimate editions of the original volumes as well as exciting new volumes to carry on the tradition to new generations of players in all styles of music! All the Real Books feature hundreds of time-tested songs in accurate arrangements in the famous easy-to-read, hand-written notation. 300 blues essentials are included in this collection: All Your Love (I Miss Loving) * Baby Please Don't Go * Big Boss Man * Blues Before Sunrise * The Blues Is Alright * Boom Boom * Born Under a Bad Sign * Cheaper to Keep Her * Come on in My Kitchen * Crosscut Saw * Damn Right, I've Got the Blues * Dust My Broom * Every Day I Have the Blues * Evil * Five Long Years * Further on up the Road * Gangster of Love * Give Me Back My Wig * Good Morning Little Schoolgirl * Got My Mo Jo Working * Have You Ever Loved a Woman * Hide Away * How Long, How Long Blues * I Ain't Got You * I Got Love If You Want It * I'm Tore Down * I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man * It Hurts Me Too * Juke * Key to the Highway * Killing Floor * Let Me Love You Baby * Look on Yonder's Wall * Mama Talk to Your Daughter * Master Charge * Messin' with the Kid * My Babe * Phone Booth * Pride and Joy * Reconsider Baby * Rock Me Baby * Rock Me Right * Smokestack Lightning * Somebody Loan Me a Dime * Statesboro Blues * (They Call It) Stormy Monday (Stormy Monday Blues) * Sweet Home Chicago * Texas Flood * The Things That I Used to Do * The Thrill Is Gone * Wang Dang Doodle * and more.
Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation
ISBN: 145848954X
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 851
Book Description
(Fake Book). Since the 1970s, The Real Book has been the most popular book for gigging jazz musicians. Hal Leonard is proud to publish completely legal and legitimate editions of the original volumes as well as exciting new volumes to carry on the tradition to new generations of players in all styles of music! All the Real Books feature hundreds of time-tested songs in accurate arrangements in the famous easy-to-read, hand-written notation. 300 blues essentials are included in this collection: All Your Love (I Miss Loving) * Baby Please Don't Go * Big Boss Man * Blues Before Sunrise * The Blues Is Alright * Boom Boom * Born Under a Bad Sign * Cheaper to Keep Her * Come on in My Kitchen * Crosscut Saw * Damn Right, I've Got the Blues * Dust My Broom * Every Day I Have the Blues * Evil * Five Long Years * Further on up the Road * Gangster of Love * Give Me Back My Wig * Good Morning Little Schoolgirl * Got My Mo Jo Working * Have You Ever Loved a Woman * Hide Away * How Long, How Long Blues * I Ain't Got You * I Got Love If You Want It * I'm Tore Down * I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man * It Hurts Me Too * Juke * Key to the Highway * Killing Floor * Let Me Love You Baby * Look on Yonder's Wall * Mama Talk to Your Daughter * Master Charge * Messin' with the Kid * My Babe * Phone Booth * Pride and Joy * Reconsider Baby * Rock Me Baby * Rock Me Right * Smokestack Lightning * Somebody Loan Me a Dime * Statesboro Blues * (They Call It) Stormy Monday (Stormy Monday Blues) * Sweet Home Chicago * Texas Flood * The Things That I Used to Do * The Thrill Is Gone * Wang Dang Doodle * and more.
Dirty Bird Blues
Author: Clarence Major
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0143136593
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 385
Book Description
A quietly influential force in African American literature and art, Clarence Major makes his Penguin Classics debut with the twenty-fifth-anniversary edition of Dirty Bird Blues The PRH Audio book of Dirty Bird Blues by Clarence Major won a 2022 EARPHONE AWARD. Narrated by Dion Graham. A Penguin Classic Set in post-World War II Chicago and Omaha, the novel features Manfred Banks, a young, harmonica-blowing blues singer who is always writing music in his head. Torn between his friendships with fellow musicians and nightclub life and his responsibilities to his wife and child, along with the pressures of dealing with a racist America that assaults him at every turn, Manfred seeks easy answers in "Dirty Bird" (Old Crow whiskey) and in moving on. He moves to Omaha with hopes of better opportunities as a blue-collar worker, but the blues in his soul and the dreams in his mind keep bringing him back to face himself. After a nightmarish descent into his own depths, Manfred emerges with fresh awareness and possibility. Through Manfred, we witness and experience the process by which modern American English has been vitalized and strengthened by the poetry and the poignancy of the African-American experience. As Manfred struggles with the oppressive constraints of society and his private turmoil, his rich inner voice resonates with the blues.
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0143136593
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 385
Book Description
A quietly influential force in African American literature and art, Clarence Major makes his Penguin Classics debut with the twenty-fifth-anniversary edition of Dirty Bird Blues The PRH Audio book of Dirty Bird Blues by Clarence Major won a 2022 EARPHONE AWARD. Narrated by Dion Graham. A Penguin Classic Set in post-World War II Chicago and Omaha, the novel features Manfred Banks, a young, harmonica-blowing blues singer who is always writing music in his head. Torn between his friendships with fellow musicians and nightclub life and his responsibilities to his wife and child, along with the pressures of dealing with a racist America that assaults him at every turn, Manfred seeks easy answers in "Dirty Bird" (Old Crow whiskey) and in moving on. He moves to Omaha with hopes of better opportunities as a blue-collar worker, but the blues in his soul and the dreams in his mind keep bringing him back to face himself. After a nightmarish descent into his own depths, Manfred emerges with fresh awareness and possibility. Through Manfred, we witness and experience the process by which modern American English has been vitalized and strengthened by the poetry and the poignancy of the African-American experience. As Manfred struggles with the oppressive constraints of society and his private turmoil, his rich inner voice resonates with the blues.