Articles

Daily articles carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. Read our popular and future articles.

BOOK REVIEW July 18, 2020

Brother Robert: Growing Up with Robert Johnson

Brother Robert: Growing Up with Robert Johnson Annye C. Anderson, Preston Lauterbach 224 Pages ISBN: # 978-0306845260 Hachette Books 2020 Brother Robert: Growing Up with Robert Johnson is a slim memoir told by Annye C. Anderson, step-sister of Robert Johnson, to author Preston Lauderbach (The Chitlin' Circuit And The Road To Rock 'N' Roll (Norton, 2012)). While this gentle, but powerful, account will not be the final word in Johnson reportage, it will, ...

BOOK REVIEW November 23, 2019

Robert Johnson: Lost and Found

By C. Michael Bailey

Robert Johnson: Lost and Found Barry Lee Pearson & Bill McCulloch Music in American Life Series 160 Pages ISBN: # 978-0252028359 University of Illinois Press 2003 There are two stories surrounding the discovery and marketing of pre-World War II musical recordings in general and 1930s blues musician Robert Johnson, in particular. One is the actual chronology and analysis of events and the second is the research and reportage of the findings surrounding ...

BOOK REVIEW June 29, 2019

Up Jumped the Devil: The Real Life of Robert Johnson by Bruce Conforth & Gayle Dean Wardlow

By C. Michael Bailey

Up Jumped the Devil: The Real Life of Robert Johnson Bruce Conforth & Gayle Dean Wardlow 336 Pages ISBN: # 978-1787602441 Omnibus Press 2019 There is a wonderful social media meme that applies to almost all of the writing about Robert Johnson before Bruce Conforth and Gayle Dean Wardlow's long-awaited biography, Up Jumped the Devil: The Real Life of Robert Johnson: There are two types of people in this world:

BAILEY'S BUNDLES May 5, 2019

The Country Blues by Samuel B. Charters

By C. Michael Bailey

The Country Blues Samuel B. Charters 314 pages ISBN: # 978-0306800146 Da Capo 1959/1975 With the miracle publication of blues researchers Paul Oliver and Mack McCormick's unfinished monolith Blues Come to Texas (Texas A&M University Press, 2019), it is worth reconsidering the first example of blues reportage, Samuel B. Charter's The Country Blues, published 60 years ago. It was 40 years ago when I first read this book and since that time have ...

BOOK REVIEW August 3, 2018

Portrait of a Phantom: The Story of Robert Johnson’s Lost Photograph by Zeke Schein with Poppy Z. Bright

By C. Michael Bailey

Portrait of a Phantom: The Story of Robert Johnson's Lost Photograph Zeke Schein with Poppy Z. Bright 400 Pages ISBN: # 978-1455622450 Pelican Publishing Company, Inc. 2017 We have been quickly approaching a reportage endgame on the legend and reality of storied bluesman, Robert Johnson. There exist several unpublished biographies of the Johnson that have remained so because of the threat of litigation and the cynical greed of people now long dead. Now ...

BOOK REVIEW June 13, 2015

The Gospel According to the Blues by Gary W. Burnett

By C. Michael Bailey

The Gospel According to the Blues Gary W. Burnett 161 Pages ISBN: #978-1620327258 Cascade Books 2014 Dr. Gary Burnett wears a lot of hats. He teaches courses in New Testament Greek, Paul's Epistle to the Romans, Pauline Epistles and Theology, and Introduction to Jesus and the Gospels at Union Theological College in Belfast. He is also a Chartered IT Professional and a Fellow of the British Computer Society, and runs a business ...

BOOK REVIEW February 7, 2015

100 Books Every Blues Fan Should Own by Edward Komara & Greg Johnson

By C. Michael Bailey

100 Books Every Blues Fan Should Own Edward Komara and Greg Johnson 299 Pages ISBN: #9780810889217 Rowman & Littlefield 2014 The length of time between a cultural trend developing and its introduction into the academy has grown ever shorter in the last 50 years. Authors Edward Komara and Greg Johnson, past and present blues archivist/music librarian at the University of Mississippi, respectively, say as much regarding blues music in the introduction of ...