Blues: Geschichte, Stile, Musiker, Songs & Aufnahmen

by Bill Wyman, Richard Havers

This book showcases 40 legendary Blues players from Muddy Waters to John Lee Hooker with fascinating stories and inside information. It includes the geographical, social and political history around the time of the blues, from life on the cotton plantations to vibrant city night-life and features previously unpublished photographs of famous blues locations and key players from Bill's personal archive. In this evocative and intensely personal history of the Blues, Bill Wyman pays tribute to the musicians who inspired him and whose music he took around the world as a member of the Rolling Stones.The starting point of Bill's Odyssey is the journey of African slaves to the plantations of America's Deep South. We follow their descendants as they walk travel the highways and ride the railroads out of the Delta and the troubled South via Memphis to the northern cites of Chicago and St. Louis. But this is no superficial a society is revealed where poverty and injustice as well as love and faith found their expression in a musical style that gave birth to rock 'n' roll.Location shots of smokey juke joints railroad stations and endless highways combine with stunning maps to bring the Blues alive. Feature spreads with previously unpublished photographs from Bill Wyman's personal showcase 38 Blues legends from Robert Johnson to John Lee Hooker telling the story of their fascinating and often troubled lives. Bill Wyman is a legend in his own right. He has known and played with many of the Blue legends and his personal knowledge and unprecedented access give this book an authenticity that is almost impossible to match.

Genres: Music, History

Hardcover

First published September 1, 2001

Reviews

[Paul Bryant · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is certainly very sick-making when every C list celebrity thinks they can write a children's book or even a damn novel these days and of course it will sell because of the hideous poison that is celebrity culture. And of course only a fool would imagine for one second that the celebrity actually wrote the thing that comes out with their name on it. At the most they might have had a couple of zoom sessions with the selected ghost writer. But once in a while one of these names will do something worth doing with all their millions. It's as surprising as meeting a golden tamarin in the rain forests of Brazil. Well, here is one celeb book which is quite wonderful. I can't imagine a pictorial history of the blues could be done better.



Along with giving lavish pages to such topics as plantation culture, early field recording trips, jug bands, juke joints, the boll weevil, the Library of Congress, and such names as Blind Blake, Sleepy John Estes, T-Bone Walker, Joe Liggins the Honey Dripper and all the others you know. All the way from Stovepipe No. 1 to Rory Gallagher.

There's a page about the rude blues, and here we find out about songs called

Ain't got Nobody to Grind my Coffee
My Stove is in Good Condition
If it Don't Fit, Don't Force It

and

Whip it to a Jelly

Bill Wyman had a whole small army of elves working on this big beast, finding obscure photos and fixing up all these fancy page layouts and all, but fair play to him. He did a good thing.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection of photos, especially, and this book tells the tale of the blues well

[David Campbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is easy to see Bill Wyman's commitment to those that created and played blues music. With assistance, but I really see Bill digging into this, he has compiled a broad history, packed with photos of so many artists that sing and play the blues. He includes stories his many personal and group's meetings with bluesmen but his focus is on presenting a backstory with as many personal details as he can find for many of the contributors to blues music.

[Genie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A combination of African-American history and music history, Wyman covers the development of unique American music: the blues. Illustrated with photographs, maps, drawings, portraits, time lines and record cover reproductions, the book covers nearly 400 years of American history. From its beginning during years of slavery to the modern-day musicians, this is a comprehensive look at the blues. Early blues musicians like Papa Charlie Jackson (one of the first bluesmen to record in Chicago), Ma Rainey who is credited with bridging the gap between "urban" and "country" blues; and John Lee Hooker who remained true to the Delta blues tradition. Specific songs are discussed telling who has covered them and when. Other topics include information about instruments, geographical locations and record labels. Chapters are devoted to how society's racial reactions music during the 1950’s, heavily influenced by radio, helped erode the differences between black and white. Published as the companion volume to the Bravo special of the same name, Wyman explains the connections between blues and jazz, rock'n'roll, and country music. This is a fine reference book that belongs in the library of anyone interested in Blues and/or Jazz.

[Diann Blakely]

If you haven’t lived down South for more than a decade, read Faulkner, or been sure which mall your musician friends are talking about when they mention “Crossroads,” you may want to do a little homework before reading the eponymously titled BILL WYMAN'S BLUES ODYSSEY, which is also described as covering the birth of the blues in "the troubled South." This is news, even in England?

Americans, in general, will doubtless find more interesting the passages in which Wyman brings his thoroughly unique and authentic experience of what it’s like to be a working class English kid, fall in love with the blues, start playing bass with some guys named Keith and Mick and Charlie and Brian, and then re-experience the blues while crisscrossing the South with the world’s greatest rock ’n’ roll band from 1964 until 1989, when the bassist retired. You can’t go home again, but no matter where your origins lie, you can journey in the direction of downhome with BILL WYMAN'S BLUES ODYSSEY, whose eye-catching layout and lavish illustrations will go well with whatever personal soundtrack you wish—in the best blues fashion—to improvise.










(originally published in the NASHVILLE SCENE)

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was thinking as I read this book, that there was a lot of information in here - some I knew, a lot I didn't especially of the 1920's to 40's blues scenes. And I was thinking, the book is relatively recent. It was published in 2001, which actually makes the book a bit older. If you don't know much about blues music and want a primer to get you a full history, you can't go wrong with this. Mr. Wyman, of course, is most well known as the bass player in the Rolling Stones. Without him saying it so many words, I sense that Bill felt the band lost its way the further it strayed away from the blues. The book starts with a brief synopsis of slavery and the slave trade, especially how it progressed in the US and how it eventually was outlawed through the Civil War. While I feel he gets a few details wrong, his overall summary gives you the general idea. This introduction is important for anyone wanting to know from where the blues evolved and what some of the phrases mean, then this is essential background. The book will become a useful resource for my radio show. Thanks to Adrian of our local public library for finding it for me at a garage sale.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wer schon immer mal alles über den Blues wissen wollte, der liest das Buch von Ex-Stones-Bassist Bill Wyman. Das Standardwerk.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really great primer on blues players. Loads of photos in addition to a very well laid out and written text.

[Bubba · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not only a Rolling Stone, but he know's a lot about American music, from the 19th century to the present.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

An outstanding history of the blues.

[Bill Baer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for all Blues Lovers. Awesome book