In the early 1900's Rufus Epps, a son of an ex-slave, acquires land in the Deep South from a dying man. On the land he builds a gigantic barn, which every year on his wedding anniversary becomes the site for a celebration called the night of the blues. Bluesmen come from across the south to compete for the prize money. After Rufus Epps' death, the barn becomes deserted and the night of the blues is forgotten. Years after Rufus Epps' death, two bluesmen return to the barn. Cyril Dutty, who is dying, comes to search for his soul, which was taken from him by his father, a voodoo priest. John Leaks, an heroin addict, comes to find redemption from a life of hate and violence. Blues Power is a fast paced novel that chronicles the power and magic of the blues.
Between the 1890s and the early 1920s, the boll weevil slowly ate its way across the Cotton South from Texas to the Atlantic Ocean. At the turn of the century, some Texas counties were reporting crop losses of over 70 percent, as were areas of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi. By the time the boll weevil reached the limits of the cotton belt, it had destroyed much of the region’s chief cash crop—tens of billions of pounds of cotton, worth nearly a trillion dollars. As staggering as these numbers may seem, James C. Giesen demonstrates that it was the very idea of the boll weevil and the struggle over its meanings that most profoundly changed the South—as different groups, from policymakers to blues singers, projected onto this natural disaster the consequences they feared and the outcomes they sought. Giesen asks how the myth of the boll weevil’s lasting impact helped obscure the real problems of the region—those caused not by insects, but by landowning patterns, antiquated credit systems, white supremacist ideology, and declining soil fertility. Boll Weevil Blues brings together these cultural, environmental, and agricultural narratives in a novel and important way that allows us to reconsider the making of the modern American South.
A new edition of a classic history of the Mississippi River Delta Development Arrested is a major reinterpretation of the 200-year-old conflict between African American workers and the planters of the Mississippi Delta. The book measures the impact of the plantation system on those who suffered its depredations firsthand, while tracing the decline and resurrection of plantation ideology in national public policy debate. Despite countless defeats under the planter regime, African Americans in the Delta continued to push forward their agenda for social and economic justice. Throughout this remarkably interdisciplinary book, ranging across fields as diverse as rural studies, musicology, development studies, and anthropology, Woods demonstrates the role of music—including jazz, rock and roll, soul, rap and, above all, the blues—in sustaining a radical vision of social change.
Formulaic ways to train students in composition and rhetoric are no longer effective, say authors Robert L. Davis and Mark F. Shadle. Scholar-teachers must instead reinvent the field from the inside. Teaching Multiwriting: Researching and Composing with Multiple Genres, Media, Disciplines, and Cultures presents just such a reinvention with multiwriting, an alternative, open approach to composition. Seeking to open the minds of both writers and readers to new understandings, the authors argue for the supplanting of the outdated research paper assignment with research projects that use multiple forms to explore questions that cannot be fully answered. This innovative volume, geared to composition teachers at all levels, includes sixteen helpful illustrations and provides classroom exercises and projects for each chapter.
Offering a comprehensive view of the South's literary landscape, past and present, this volume of The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture celebrates the region's ever-flourishing literary culture and recognizes the ongoing evolution of the southern literary canon. As new writers draw upon and reshape previous traditions, southern literature has broadened and deepened its connections not just to the American literary mainstream but also to world literatures--a development thoughtfully explored in the essays here. Greatly expanding the content of the literature section in the original Encyclopedia, this volume includes 31 thematic essays addressing major genres of literature; theoretical categories, such as regionalism, the southern gothic, and agrarianism; and themes in southern writing, such as food, religion, and sexuality. Most striking is the fivefold increase in the number of biographical entries, which introduce southern novelists, playwrights, poets, and critics. Special attention is given to contemporary writers and other individuals who have not been widely covered in previous scholarship.
This comprehensive two-volume set brings together all aspects of the blues from performers and musical styles to record labels and cultural issues, including regional evolution and history. Organized in an accessible A-to-Z format, the Encyclopedia of the Blues is an essential reference resource for information on this unique American music genre. For a full list of entries, contributors, and more, visit the Encyclopedia of the Blues website.
The blues guitar book that gives you everything you need to know to play smokin’ blues guitar. Packed full of blues guitar licks and solos, essential blues guitar techniques, scales and chords, and with video lessons, backing tracks and audio demo tracks included, Blues Soloing for Guitar, Volume 1 is the perfect blues guitar book for beginners to intermediate level blues guitar players. - A complete blues guitar method book for beginners and intermediate guitar players who want to learn the basics of electric blues guitar - Master the essential blues guitar techniques, licks and solos you need to sound like an authentic blues player. Taught step-by-step using 100% confusion-free language and simple explanations - See all blues licks and solos demonstrated up close with the dedicated website featuring video lessons and easy to follow demonstrations at multiple speeds - No music reading necessary: guitar tab, chord and fretboard diagrams make it easy to learn even if you can't read music - Downloadable 'play-along' audio practice tracks and blues backing tracks Blues Soloing for Guitar, Volume 1 gives you a complete course for learning the basics of blues guitar. You’ll learn: - The basic 12 bar blues form plus 12 bar blues variations - The blues scales used by all the blues guitar legends (pentatonic, sliding shapes, blues scale etc) - Complete blues solos in the styles of Eric Clapton, Billy Gibbons, Albert King, Freddie King and other blues legends, complete with a lick-by-lick breakdown - String bending, ‘blues curls, vibrato and other important blues techniques - The basics of music theory all blues players need to know - How to jam and improvise your own blues licks and solos (with my blues ‘power moves’ method) This book is perfect for you if: - You want a blues guitar course for learning the basics without it being confusing and taking you years - You want to play cool blues solos suitable for beginners and intermediate blues players - You are an intermediate blues guitar player who wants to brush up your skills, learn new techniques and build up your vocabulary of blues licks - You're looking for some blues songs for beginners to play - You want to feel more confident when you step up to play blues in your band or at a jam session - You're fed up of trawling through millions of YouTube guitar lessons and want a proven, easy to use method to follow which will get you results So if you want to learn what you need to play authentic blues on your guitar, grab your copy and get started right now!
The Blues Encyclopedia is the first full-length authoritative Encyclopedia on the Blues as a musical form. While other books have collected biographies of blues performers, none have taken a scholarly approach. A to Z in format, this Encyclopedia covers not only the performers, but also musical styles, regions, record labels and cultural aspects of the blues, including race and gender issues. Special attention is paid to discographies and bibliographies.
An encyclopedic reference for guitarists, written by the editors of the world's most respected guitar magazine, offers valuable information for improving their playing and features exclusive interviews with masters such as Chet Atkins, Duane Allman, Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, and more. Original.
