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Sounds So Good to Me: The Bluesman's Story
The roots of much American music lie in the intensely personal art form of the blues. What bluesmen from W.C. Handy to B.B. King have told us about their lives has shaped America's perception of the blues. These life stories provide central insights into blues music and stand as a fascinating form of narrative in their own right.
Barry Lee Pearson has conducted dozens of field interviews and collected over a hundred published autobiographies to present this collective portrait of bluesmen's careers as they themselves tell their musical learning, communities, work, pleasures, travels, triumphs, and crises.
Barry Lee Pearson has conducted dozens of field interviews and collected over a hundred published autobiographies to present this collective portrait of bluesmen's careers as they themselves tell their musical learning, communities, work, pleasures, travels, triumphs, and crises.
- GenresMusic
208 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1984
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September 12, 2023
bluesmen tell about their lives
I’ve been a blues lover since I was young, but in the whirl of daily life I never took the time to really get into the subject. I did buy this book some years ago, but only now took it off the shelf and read it. Barry Lee Pearson took a lot of time back in the 70s and 80s to interview a host of blues musicians and some of the people involved in recording or dealing with them. He produced a very interesting book in which many of the players speak for themselves on many different topics. He included good photos of 21 bluesmen as well. Though there are a few white blues players, as most people know, the vast majority are black. Blues grew from oppression, from slavery and then struggling to make a living in the rural South. Mississippi seems to have produced a very large number of bluesmen and it’s not difficult to know why. Plus, if your environment already contains some cultural activity or sport, it’s more likely that you will be attracted to it.
Pearson discusses with the bluesmen how they got into the craft in the first place, how they got their first guitars and learned music and how their families reacted. “In the musician’s story, early paying jobs stand out as career milestones marking the transition from amateur time-waster to wage earner. Just as accounts of the first guitar represent an initiation into the world of playing music, the first real jobs serve as an initiation into the ranks of the professional blues musicians.” (p.90)
There is a kind of model drama that leads to a blues playing career. You are exposed to other blues players and get inspired. You feel you have the talent and acquire an instrument. “With the help of an inspirational figure or teacher,” you break into the ranks of the professionals and “reaching maturity as a working musician, you lose your innocence and gain wisdom through experience.” (p.97) Later you adopt a “blues name” and develop a certain style. There’s a lot of mystique associated with blues players and their lifestyle. Some of such beliefs are true for certain people, but other players are entirely different from the supposed legends of their style. Image projection leads to success, and the bluesmen know it. It seems to many listeners that if the singer has not had a hard life, his songs are not authentic enough, but if you haven’t lived it, you can still sing it. The blues deals with the way the world is. Unlike some folk or pop music, it’s not concerned with changing anything, it’s more expression of emotions. This book is about what the players think about all this themselves, not so much about what the author thinks. Other topics are relations with women fans, relations with club and bar owners who hire you, relations with recording companies, and relations between players--often the competition was fierce.
Johnny Young, Robert Nighthawk, Houston Stackhouse, “Honeyboy” Edwards, Big Bill Broonzy, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Otis Rush, Johnny Shines, James Thomas, “Smitty” Smith, Eddy Taylor, Freddy McDowell, Clyde Maxwell, John Cephas, Yank Rachel, Lee Crisp, Sunnyland Slim, and a host more over the years. These are just some of the names mentioned and some interviewed. It seems the author rejected B.B. King as too commercialized, but I still like him anyhow.
You can listen to almost any of the figures mentioned here and lots more besides if you have a computer. So, unlike in the past, everyone has access to blues music. You could use this book as a guide to the players you like best. Give it a shot.
I’ve been a blues lover since I was young, but in the whirl of daily life I never took the time to really get into the subject. I did buy this book some years ago, but only now took it off the shelf and read it. Barry Lee Pearson took a lot of time back in the 70s and 80s to interview a host of blues musicians and some of the people involved in recording or dealing with them. He produced a very interesting book in which many of the players speak for themselves on many different topics. He included good photos of 21 bluesmen as well. Though there are a few white blues players, as most people know, the vast majority are black. Blues grew from oppression, from slavery and then struggling to make a living in the rural South. Mississippi seems to have produced a very large number of bluesmen and it’s not difficult to know why. Plus, if your environment already contains some cultural activity or sport, it’s more likely that you will be attracted to it.
Pearson discusses with the bluesmen how they got into the craft in the first place, how they got their first guitars and learned music and how their families reacted. “In the musician’s story, early paying jobs stand out as career milestones marking the transition from amateur time-waster to wage earner. Just as accounts of the first guitar represent an initiation into the world of playing music, the first real jobs serve as an initiation into the ranks of the professional blues musicians.” (p.90)
There is a kind of model drama that leads to a blues playing career. You are exposed to other blues players and get inspired. You feel you have the talent and acquire an instrument. “With the help of an inspirational figure or teacher,” you break into the ranks of the professionals and “reaching maturity as a working musician, you lose your innocence and gain wisdom through experience.” (p.97) Later you adopt a “blues name” and develop a certain style. There’s a lot of mystique associated with blues players and their lifestyle. Some of such beliefs are true for certain people, but other players are entirely different from the supposed legends of their style. Image projection leads to success, and the bluesmen know it. It seems to many listeners that if the singer has not had a hard life, his songs are not authentic enough, but if you haven’t lived it, you can still sing it. The blues deals with the way the world is. Unlike some folk or pop music, it’s not concerned with changing anything, it’s more expression of emotions. This book is about what the players think about all this themselves, not so much about what the author thinks. Other topics are relations with women fans, relations with club and bar owners who hire you, relations with recording companies, and relations between players--often the competition was fierce.
Johnny Young, Robert Nighthawk, Houston Stackhouse, “Honeyboy” Edwards, Big Bill Broonzy, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Otis Rush, Johnny Shines, James Thomas, “Smitty” Smith, Eddy Taylor, Freddy McDowell, Clyde Maxwell, John Cephas, Yank Rachel, Lee Crisp, Sunnyland Slim, and a host more over the years. These are just some of the names mentioned and some interviewed. It seems the author rejected B.B. King as too commercialized, but I still like him anyhow.
You can listen to almost any of the figures mentioned here and lots more besides if you have a computer. So, unlike in the past, everyone has access to blues music. You could use this book as a guide to the players you like best. Give it a shot.
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