In Search of the Blues: Black Voices, White Visions

[Jarlath]

In Search of the Blues: Black Voices, White Visions
by Marybeth Hamilton

I am not quite sure about using the search facility on this site but from what I can see this book does not seem to have been mentioned that much.(Ted mentioned it in the 'Is there life in blues or folk after all' thread)

I read the book about 6 months ago and enjoyed it a lot. I assume a few more of you must have read it. What did you think of it?

[Jonathan E.]

I just read a fascinating article about this book Jarlath mentions, In Search of the Blues: The White Invention of Black Music by MaryBeth Hamilton. Well really, it's a long review of that along with many words about county blues in general and America Primitive, Vol. II: Pre-War Revenants (1897-1939) on Revenant Records along with consideration of another book, Escaping The Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues by Elijah Wald. I found it all very interesting. It had lots of inside dope on the weird world of serious record collectors, that's original 78s not us lightweight LP collectors! Unfortunately, you can't access it directly as it's in Harpers and unless you're a subscriber you can't read it online. BUT I am a subscriber and have been able to download a PDF, which I will send via email if you wished. I'll need a real email address, can't do it via PM.

[Neil Foxlee]

I ain't read it, but views on it seem to be mixed. Kirkus Reviews, fr'instance, said:

"Affectionate look at the primal music of the black South that too often reads like a college dissertation.During the last few decades, the blues, one of only a handful of indigenous art forms in the United States, has been more appreciated in the U.K. than here at home. The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, the Who [SIC - ed.] and even the Beatles [SIC -ed.] lived a significant chunk of their musical lives as blues bands. So when it comes to attempting to cobble together a definitive history of Delta blues, who better than a Californian who migrated to London? Expat Hamilton (When I'm Bad, I'm Better: Mae West, Sex, and American Entertainment, 1995) certainly knows her stuff: She can wax nostalgic with authority and enthusiasm about everybody from the otherworldly Robert Johnson and effervescent Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter to jazz showman Fats Waller. But is that enough to make her sophomore effort an essential piece of blues literature? Almost. Despite the fact that Hamilton's tome is a labor of love, her prose is a bit dry - especially frustrating considering her vibrant subject matter - and she relies too heavily on previously published sources. Since old-school blues has been dissected to death - Peter Guralnick did it first and did it better - she would have been better served injecting more of her own personality. But the author's heart is in the right place, and her sincere love for the music shines through.Useful bite-sized history suitable for the blues newbie. (Kirkus Reviews)

Product Description

Leadbelly, Robert Johnson, Charley Patton-we are all familiar with the story of the Delta blues. Fierce, raw voices; tormented drifters; deals with the devil at the crossroads at midnight.

In this extraordinary reconstruction of the origins of the Delta blues, historian Marybeth Hamilton demonstrates that the story as we know it is largely a myth. The idea of something called Delta blues only emerged in the mid-twentieth century, the culmination of a longstanding white fascination with the exotic mysteries of black music.

Hamilton shows that the Delta blues was effectively invented by white pilgrims, seekers, and propagandists who headed deep into America’s south in search of an authentic black voice of rage and redemption. In their quest, and in the immense popularity of the music they championed, we confront America’s ongoing love affair with racial difference. "

So it's just us crackers romanticizing the Other again... (Same story from the Elijah Wald book, by the way - this must be the 'in' academic view at the moment.)

PS I know the Who covered Sonny Boy Williamson II's Eyesight to the Blind on Tommy, but a blues band? Come off it...

[Jonathan E.]

With all due respect to Neil, I wouldn't let his post prevent you from getting the very, very interesting PDF I offered. About nine pages of quite rambling and fairly intimate consideration of the two books plus the Revenant collection of obscure songs. Has almost nothing to do with sixties blues-rock or such upstarts as the Rolling Stones. Much of it is about the quirks of the serious blues scholars and obsessives. Very personal in tone, and barely counting as a review. To be honest, I don't recognize the book as Kirkus reviews it as the same book talked about in what I read. I mean I'm sure it is, but the point of view of the reviewer is so different that it all becomes meaningless to the point of my great and redeeming personal mantra, "Ain't Diversity Wonderful?!" Personally, I'd always pick Harpers over Kirkus or a "product description" as a source of intellectual stimulation. Clearly whoever reviewed the book for Kirkus knows jackshit, hardly addressed the book, and shouldn't get to publish such opinions without an editorial disclaimer as to their unreliability.

[Jonathan E.]

OK, OK, OK — I probably shouldn't make such intemperate remarks or be so irritable. My most humble apologies to both Kirkus and Neil, but really the whole thing kind of missed the point I was attempting to make.

To help me make the point, which was simply that it was an interesting piece of writing about blues fanatics and the music itself, you can download a pdf of "Unknown Bards," the article I was referring to, from here.

[Ted]

To be honest, I don't recognize the book as Kirkus reviews it as the same book talked about in what I read.

Phew. Not just me then - and I have read it. I was going to write a bit more about it but I seem to have lost it. But one of the things that made it readable was that Hamilton sets out her stall as a debunker of myths in the first chapter and spends the rest of the book realising that things are more complicated that they seemed. She ends up being very sympathetic to the nerdy, badly socialised record collecters whose obsession preserved old blues records.

I've just read the Harpers article. Thanks for posting it Jonathan.

[Neil Foxlee]

OK, OK, OK — I probably shouldn't make such intemperate remarks or be so irritable. My most humble apologies to both Kirkus and Neil, but really the whole thing kind of missed the point I was attempting to make. here.

No need to apologize. As I pointed out, I haven't read the book, so don't know what it's like, and the Kirkus reviewer was certainly ill-informed about the Who, for example. So don't let that put anyone off.