Yonder Come the Blues
The Evolution of a Genre

This 2001 volume combines three influential and much-quoted books on African-American music.

Paul Oliver (Author), Tony Russell (Author), Robert M. W. Dixon (Author), John Godrich (Author), Howard Rye (Author)

9780521782593, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 22 February 2001

374 pages, 57 b/w illus. 3 maps 1 table
25.4 x 17.8 x 2.2 cm, 0.87 kg

"...anyone with a general knowledge of the blues will have his or her understanding deepened by these works, particularly in the updated guise in which they appear here." American Recorder

Yonder Come the Blues combines three influential and much-quoted books: Savannah Syncopators; Blacks, Whites and Blues and Recording the Blues. Updated with additional essays, this 2001 volume discusses the crucial early development of the blues as a music of Blacks in the United States, explaining some of the most significant factors that shaped this music. Together, these three texts emphasise the significance of the African heritage, the mutuality of much white and black music and the role of recording in consolidating the blues, thus demonstrating the importance of these formative elements in its complex but combined socio-musical history. Redressing some of the misconceptions that persist in writing on African-American music, this book will be essential reading for all enthusiasts of blues, jazz and country music and will be important for students of African-American studies and music, popular music and popular culture.

Introduction: yonder come the Blues Paul Oliver
Book One. Savannah Syncopators: African retentions in the Blues: 1. Afternoon - Nangodi
2. Africa and jazz historian
3. Music in West Africa
4. Savannah song
5. The source of the slaves
6. Africa and the Blues
7. Afterword Paul Oliver
Book Two. Blacks, Whites and Blues: Foreword
8. Minstrelsy
9. Old familiar tunes
10. Letting out the Blues
11. The Idea of the White People
12. Out West
13. Out East
14. Afterword Tony Russell
Book Three. Recording The Blues: 15. The birth of a new industry
16. The new market 1920–2
17. The classic blues
18. Into the field 1927–30
19. Hard times
20. Urban blues 1934–40
21. End of an era 1941–5 Robert M. W. Dixon and John Godrich
22. Afterword Howard Rye.

Subject Areas: Blues [AVGK], Music [AV]