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Early Blues: The First Stars of Blues Guitar
Winner of the 2016 Living Blues Award for Blues Book of the Year
Since the early 1900s, blues and the guitar have traveled side by side. This book tells the story of their pairing from the first reported sightings of blues musicians, to the rise of nationally known stars, to the onset of the Great Depression, when blues recording virtually came to a halt. Like the best music documentaries, Early The First Stars of Blues Guitar interweaves musical history, quotes from celebrated musicians (B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, Ry Cooder, and Johnny Winter, to name a few), and a spellbinding array of life stories to illustrate the early days of blues guitar in rich and resounding detail. In these chapters, you’ll meet Sylvester Weaver, who recorded the world’s first guitar solos, and Paramount Records artists Papa Charlie Jackson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Blind Blake, the “King of Ragtime Blues Guitar.” Blind Willie McTell, the Southeast’s superlative twelve-string guitar player, and Blind Willie Johnson, street-corner evangelist of sublime gospel blues, also get their due, as do Lonnie Johnson, the era’s most influential blues guitarist; Mississippi John Hurt, with his gentle, guileless voice and syncopated fingerpicking style; and slide guitarist Tampa Red, “the Guitar Wizard.” Drawing on a deep archive of documents, photographs, record company ads, complete discographies, and up-to-date findings of leading researchers, this is the most comprehensive and complete account ever written of the early stars of blues guitar—an essential chapter in the history of American music.
Since the early 1900s, blues and the guitar have traveled side by side. This book tells the story of their pairing from the first reported sightings of blues musicians, to the rise of nationally known stars, to the onset of the Great Depression, when blues recording virtually came to a halt. Like the best music documentaries, Early The First Stars of Blues Guitar interweaves musical history, quotes from celebrated musicians (B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, Ry Cooder, and Johnny Winter, to name a few), and a spellbinding array of life stories to illustrate the early days of blues guitar in rich and resounding detail. In these chapters, you’ll meet Sylvester Weaver, who recorded the world’s first guitar solos, and Paramount Records artists Papa Charlie Jackson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Blind Blake, the “King of Ragtime Blues Guitar.” Blind Willie McTell, the Southeast’s superlative twelve-string guitar player, and Blind Willie Johnson, street-corner evangelist of sublime gospel blues, also get their due, as do Lonnie Johnson, the era’s most influential blues guitarist; Mississippi John Hurt, with his gentle, guileless voice and syncopated fingerpicking style; and slide guitarist Tampa Red, “the Guitar Wizard.” Drawing on a deep archive of documents, photographs, record company ads, complete discographies, and up-to-date findings of leading researchers, this is the most comprehensive and complete account ever written of the early stars of blues guitar—an essential chapter in the history of American music.
327 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 9, 2015
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274 people want to read
About the author
Jas Obrecht
12 books3 followersJas Obrecht was a staff editor for Guitar Player, 1978-1998. The author of several books, he runs the Talking Guitar YouTube channel and online magazine at jasobrecht.substack.com.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 26, 2018
I received a copy of this book for free through the GoodReads first reads program in exchange for an honest review.
The blues tradition is one that has never ceased to fascinate me. There's something simultaneously dark and romantic about it. It came to fruition from the years of Reconstruction after the Civil War, and some of the most famous bluesmen were indeed the sons of former slaves and worked as sharecroppers. In the midst of all of this, Jim Crow laws, rampant racism, and the strange years of prohibition and segregation... some bluesmen were stars, among white as well as black crowds. How strange is that?
This book traces those early years from the very first bluesman to cut a record. It has much of the artwork promoting the musicians, their histories an techniques. It showcases the cloudiness where history failed to fill in the blanks, and the times when history was all too clear. White men who recorded with the black musicians and had to hide their names, but obviously greatly admired and benefited from those sessions. The way the advertisements both lauded and ridiculed the musicians, while all the time they were their best sellers.
This history is wonderful and more illuminating than many race studies are. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone curious about what traditions Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, and The Who arose from. These are the stars who were forgotten all too often, musicians musicians. Their very histories are folk legends, when the truth is just as fascinating.
The blues tradition is one that has never ceased to fascinate me. There's something simultaneously dark and romantic about it. It came to fruition from the years of Reconstruction after the Civil War, and some of the most famous bluesmen were indeed the sons of former slaves and worked as sharecroppers. In the midst of all of this, Jim Crow laws, rampant racism, and the strange years of prohibition and segregation... some bluesmen were stars, among white as well as black crowds. How strange is that?
This book traces those early years from the very first bluesman to cut a record. It has much of the artwork promoting the musicians, their histories an techniques. It showcases the cloudiness where history failed to fill in the blanks, and the times when history was all too clear. White men who recorded with the black musicians and had to hide their names, but obviously greatly admired and benefited from those sessions. The way the advertisements both lauded and ridiculed the musicians, while all the time they were their best sellers.
This history is wonderful and more illuminating than many race studies are. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone curious about what traditions Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, and The Who arose from. These are the stars who were forgotten all too often, musicians musicians. Their very histories are folk legends, when the truth is just as fascinating.
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June 27, 2021Informative but dryly written. Orbecht profiles nine early blues guitarists, discussing their lives, recording sessions, and music. A lot of the time, he simply recounts information, with little flow. His writing isn’t academic in tone; rather, it lacks a pulse. Also, there are several times when a promotional image for one of the artists is reprinted, only for Orbecht to quote a block of text from it on the facing page. Why does he do this when we can read the text clearly on the image? Seems redundant.
The Lonnie Johnson chapter is the longest and most interesting to me, because I knew little about him compared to some of the others. Johnson had a more or less continuous career lasting well into the 1960s. He was influential in both blues and jazz but remains unheralded.
The Lonnie Johnson chapter is the longest and most interesting to me, because I knew little about him compared to some of the others. Johnson had a more or less continuous career lasting well into the 1960s. He was influential in both blues and jazz but remains unheralded.
May 3, 2024
This was a great little book. The biographies were clear and if you have the time to listen to the music as the author talks about particular songs, it becomes even more of a rich read.
May 7, 2025
Good read, finished quicker than expected
November 5, 2015
I can't really rate it for the content, but my son-in-law raved about it and was very excited when I gave it to him s a birthday gift.
Thanks,
Linda
Thanks,
Linda
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews