Escaping the Delta (51 page)

Authors: Elijah Wald

BOOK: Escaping the Delta

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About the Author

E
LIJAH
W
ALD
has been a musician since his childhood and a writer for more than twenty years. His previous books include
Josh White: Society Blues,
the award-winning biography of bluesman Josh White; and
Narcocorrido: A Journey into the Music of Drugs, Guns, and Guerrillas
, an exploration of the Mexican pop ballads of drugs and politics. He is also the co-author of
River of Song: A Musical Journey Down the Mississippi
and
Exploding the Gene Myth
. For more information, please visit his website: www.elijahwald.com.

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Praise
for
Escaping the Delta

“This book is amazing. Well researched, opinionated, and controversial (I'm sure a couple of barroom fistfights will occur), but written with such honesty, intelligence, and love for the music that it's difficult to sum up my feelings in a couple of sentences.”

âDave Alvin, musician and songwriter

“Throughout, Wald writes better than anyone else ever has about the blues. If you read only one book about bluesâmaybe everâread this one. Not just for bluesniks; this is great black history, too.”

â
Booklist
(starred review)

“Wald's view of American culture is wonderfully bold and bracingâ¦. In the context of most writing about popular music,
Escaping the Delta
is more than a tonic. It's champagne, Muddy Waters's favorite drink.”

âAnthony Heilbut,
Los Angeles Times Book Review
(cover review)

“
Escaping the Delta
is a scholarly and fascinating addition to the growing lexicon of literature about the blues.”

âBonnie Raitt

“Wald's is a story of race, to be sure, of black musicians, primarily, and black and white audiences. And he sets his history in a full social contextâ¦full of insight and intelligence.”

âSusan Larson,
New Orleans Times-Picayune

“As persuasive as the lesson he imparts is, Wald never puts you in mind of the dusty academicâ¦. Having disabused Johnson's admirers of their dearly held beliefs, Wald offers something richer in their stead: clear-eyed, vibrant history rather than misty fairy tale.”

âGlenn Dixon,
Washington City Paper

“A unique approach to the story of the bluesâWald tells it as it really happened, and not as how it makes better sense in relation to the modern music businessâ¦. A vivid, fascinating, and valuable tale.”

âLloyd Bradley,
Blender

“By avoiding the unproven tales accepted by other chroniclersâand offering a broader contextual look at the strange evolution of blues, with Johnson as a case studyâWald unearths freshness and surprise from well-trodden ground.”

âDavid Beard,
Boston Globe

“A thoughtful, impassioned historical essayâ¦. The best studies inspire further study, and the best music books inspire further listening.
Escaping the Delta
could well do both.”

âDaniel Cooper,
Washington Post

“Elijah Wald overturns the myths and puts Johnson's music into a broader, often surprising contextâ¦. Thanks to his examination and research, a new picture of Johnson emergesâ¦. The performances remain singular. Robert Johnson seems familiar.”

âBarry Mazor,
Wall Street Journal

“Not only a great survey for blues beginners, but a bomb that explodes all the romantic notions we have about race, class, and the creation of the blues at the crossroads.”

âJosh Rogers,
Portland Phoenix

“
Escaping the Delta
flies in the face of conventional wisdomâ¦. Wald tells the simple, unassailable truth about Johnson, and about the noise we call the bluesâ¦. Useful, well researched, and thoughtful.”

âPhilip Martin,
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

“Elijah Wald makes a heroic effort to reconcile the origins of blues with its current forms, even at the cost of deconstructing his own sacred cows. The result is a book any American music lover will find enlightening.”

âWoody Mitchell,
Charlotte Observer

“Elijah Wald has come to be known as a ârevisionist historian.' But
Escaping the Delta
is actually not revisionist at all. It merely looks back at Johnsonâ¦with context and common sense.”

âSteve Knopper,
Chicago Tribune

“A highly outspoken, well-researched look at the era in which Johnson lived, his music, and the latter-day reassessment of the musician.”

âBill Ellis,
Memphis Commercial Appeal

“Fascinatingâ¦a crucial attempt at bringing a world of myth back to reality.”

âChristopher Schobert,
Buffalo News

“Wald writes entertainingly and informatively, and often eloquently, with detailed source notes to back his contentions about how the shape of black music changed with its audiencesâ¦. A fascinating and knowledgeable book.”

âJim White,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“Both a homage to one of the great musicians of all time and a history of American blues across color lines.”

â
Daily News
(New York)

“Wald's arguments are thoughtful and well researched, and blues fans who come to his book with an open mind or readers who are simply interested in learning more about Johnson will be amply rewarded.”

âTed Drozdowski,
Boston Phoenix

“Wald devotes three glorious chapters to an almost bar-for-bar discussion of Johnson's slim volume of recorded work. Wald has the ability to bring fresh
appreciation to timeless songs like âKind-Hearted Woman' and âCome On in My Kitchen,' and to explain the harder-to-fathom songs, such as âDead Shrimp Blues' and âThey're Red Hot.'”

âMike Francis,
Portland Oregonian

“In foregrounding the blues as the dynamic popular entertainment of its day rather than the reverential marker of authenticity it has become,
Escaping the Delta
takes the reader for a thoroughly enjoyable ride on the road that led to rock 'n 'roll and the blues revival that followed. Along the way Elijah Wald explodes a few myths, points up the absurdity of recording-industry marketing categories, illuminates the porousness of the folk-pop divide, and teaches us to appreciate Robert Johnson in a whole new light.”

âReebee Garofalo, author of
Rockin' Out: Popular Music in the USA

“An excellent bookâ¦certain to stir controversy.”

âLarry Cox,
Tucson Citizen

“Elijah Wald takes a fresh look at blues history, particularly at the romantic myths that have grown up around Delta blues. The result is a thoughtful and rigorously considered account of a profoundly American musical genre that helped to define the twentieth century.”

âDick Spottswood, ethnic music scholar, writer, and editor

“Wald's precision aids him in his quest to re-analyze America's perception of the blues as well as in trying to decipher the music's murky true origins and history. Wald combines a short bio of Johnson with detailed analysis of his songs and the mysterious tales that are associated with him, giving a thorough account of Johnson's life, music, and legend.”

â
Publishers Weekly

“
Escaping the Delta
does an extraordinary job of sifting through the myths in order to unearth reality.”

âRobert Gabriel,
Austin Chronicle

“Agree with the author or not, most readers will find
Escaping the Delta
fascinating reading. And they're sure to learn something new on almost every page.”

âJoe L. White,
Jackson Clarion-Ledger

“A major work that should find a place in the library of every blues aficionado.”

âPaul Garon,
Living Blues

“Wald offers a persuasive and unconventional portrait of Johnson as a skillful, ambitious, creative artist rather than the anti-social misfit of folkloreâ¦. More than anything, what shines through this book is the sheer informed love of the music.”

âMark Polizzotti,
New Republic

Copyright

ESCAPING THE DELTA
. Copyright Â© 2004 by Elijah Wald. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

FIRST AMISTAD PAPERBACK EDITION
2005

The Library of Congress has catalogued the hardcover edition as follows:

Wald, Elijah.

Escaping the delta: Robert Johnson and the invention of the blues / by Elijah Wald.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN 0-06-052423-5

1. Johnson, Robert, d. 1938. 2. Blues musiciansâMississippiâBiography. 3. Blues (Music)âMississippiâHistory and criticism. I. Title.

ML420.J735W35 Â Â 2004

782.421643'092âdc21

[B] Â Â Â Â 2003052287

ISBN 0-06-052427-8 (pbk.)
ISBN: 9780060524272