• Title: The History of the Blues
• Author: Francis Davis
• Genre/Subject: Music history
• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Publication Date: 1995
• Start date: 10/26/2022
• Finish date: 11/4/2022

Review:

This was excellent.

Not too technical, no “augmented for the syncopated declension on the minor chord.” When needed the author spelled it out musically, but in such a way as to be understandable to a non-musician.

What they call narrative history nowadays, in that it’s very readable just like a novel.

Every third guy is either named Blind Willie or yet another Johnson.

I learned a lot and came to view the blues as a distinct musical genre. Not jazz-blues, not rockin blues, just blues.