The Land Where the Blues Began

Prompt service. Item as described. Arrived in great packaging.

THis is something every serious Blues listener or anyone interested in American music should read. Unlike most books about the Blues and Blues musicians, this tells a first hand account of the times and the dangers in trying to record or in some cases even associate with Bluesmen. Painful accounts of segregation and flat out ignorance. This is a view of the blues from the very ground they worked. Walking the dirt road to locate the musicians. Going to notorious prisons searching for roots music. Going to a Juke joint to be with Son House in his world. Experiencing that moment and those artists before they were well known and while they were still alive. If you want a glossy history of the Blues, this is not it. If you want the down and dirty truth about where and how the Blues began, then here you go. I loved it. I learned more about Levee camps and Muleskinners than I expected and came away richer for it. Very informative. First hand accounts of what I knew had happened, brought to life by the guy who found it and recorded it.

Historic journey throughout the Mississippi Delta by ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax during the mid-twentith century is illuminating as well as educational. We meet blues legends Son House, Fred McDowell, Muddy Waters, and Bill Broonzy, and hear them tell of their experiences in their own words. Lomax makes clear the social pressure and discrimination that impacted development of their music, and he skillfully relates blues and its musical antecedents to African origins. A vital contribution to our understanding of the development of American music.

This is a beautiful book, and it arrived in excellent condition. Although the seller [Pinchot Books and Music] rated the book as in used - very good condition it turns out to be in NEW condition and at a very good price. I am impressed with the integrity of this seller !

Don't know of any book that covers this part of US history. The music of the times illuminates the conditions of slaves and Blacks in the South during the first half of the 1900's. Blues fans in particular and fans of the other forms of music that were birthed by the blues should consider this to be a primer of the genre. Mr. Lomax on occasion gets a little carried away with himself. He and his father explored this music in its contemporary state. They recorded music that no longer exists but was the precursor of much of American music (at least the best American music). A must read for any musician.

Being a lifelong blues fan, it is good to have this story. Maybe Alan had his ways to get information that was unsettling for some, but he did nonetheless get it. I couldn't put the book down.Thanks to this information Alan, his father, and minions collected, there will be some (his version) kind of story to tell about the blues in America, it's roots, and where it supposedly came from. Thank you Library of Congress for having the insight back in those crazy times to go ahead with this project, and even though it was cut short, continued on with Lomax's love of the blues and all music that has evolved from those time in Africa to now.Johnne in Seattle

Still reading it. Trying to savor it so I am reading only a page or two a day. I like anything Alan Lomax was involved in. As a music and cultural historian I believe he is very accurate on his record keeping of events. He is not like a lot of historians who make things up. I guess its easier to be accurate when you are actually at the site. If you want to know about the history of the Blues, this is the book as I have read extensively on this subject.

If you love music...this book is a must have!

The book has been electronically scanned, rather than formatted for Kindle, which means the original pages are only pictures of the pages and not actual text. This renders this totally unreadable on a Kindle as the images are too small to be able to read the writing.You may have better luck on an iPad or computer screen, as you would be able to enlarge the images, although I imagine it would still be a pain to have to do on each page, but on a normal Kindle you are stuck with the scanned pages and tiny text, and unable to increase the font size due to the pages being scanned images and not text.Very disappointing and very cheeky.

Lomax can sure make up stories, like meeting dead Robert Johnson's mother in a old wooden cabin, 'skinny old woman' he calls her..it turns out to be a load of rubbish as she was nothing of the kind and there is factual information in the sleeve notes to the Complete Robert johnson Collection, along with a photo of the 'real' mother of Johnson. So it makes you wonder how much of this book to belive, it's full of word by word of actual conversations, can you remember an actual word for word conversation you made yesterday, or a month, or year ago. Loma must have a terrific memory, for things said over 30 years or more ago. So approach this book with caution, it's interesting but beware of fabrication to make a good read.

not a light hearted read, this book delves into the very depths of the south.you can't help but have sympathy for the black population, and their hard lives come through in their wonderful music an excellent book

...clap your hands and stamp your feet - the history of the blues by an American who appreciated his heritage at a time he could do something about capturing it for future generations. Wanted it for ages, hard to find good HB copies - finally got an ex-library copy from another site. Brilliant read!

Great perceptive writing...a Unique book on the Blues...