Blues singers with blind in their name book

Here is a list by no means definitive of some of the more noted blind blues musicians. When i finished the book, i had a desire to further learn about each musician. Winner of the 2016 living blues award for blues book of the year. They influenced other bluesmen plus elvis presley, bob dylan, and jimi hendrix 01. The simple but expressive forms of the blues became by the 1960s one of the most important influences on the development of popular music. Handy himself went blind at the age of 30 due to an accidental fall from a subway platform in new york city.

Blues book of the year 2016 living blues critics poll. A lot of thought should be given to the importance of the gospel blues. Blind musicians are singers or instrumentalists, or in some cases singeraccompanists, who are legally blind. The essence of chris thomas kings versatile, heavily bluesinfluenced music can perhaps best be hinted at with a quick sample of his album titles. Pill blues and panther squall blues is arthur blind blake, which strengthens the case for blake being his given name. Gettin a handle on those monikers origins of blues artist names by alan white. Blues is a music genre and musical form which was originated in the deep south of the united states around the 1870s by africanamericans from roots in african musical traditions, africanamerican work songs, and spirituals. In the last several decades, blues music has developed a less regional character and has been influenced by rhythm and blues. Blind lemon jefferson, blind blake, blind willie mctell, blind willie johnson. He and his brother edgar are among the elite blues guitarist of the 20th. See more ideas about singer, blues music and jazz blues. Perhaps more than any other artist, big bill broonzy brought the blues to chicago. Two of the unreleased songs are takes from irene scruggs and blind blakes married man blues tk 2 and 3.

Mississippi blues rare cuts 19261941 reynolds real name was joe sheppard. Blindness as a rhetorical trope in blues discourse jstor. The genre goes all the way back to the start of the 20th century. Lester profiles 10 blues, or bluesinspired, legends including bessie smith, muddy waters, b.

Blind lemon jefferson, for example, became the blues darling of paramount records. In praise of blind willie johnso ns dark was the night. Since its inception in 1980, the blues foundation has inducted new members annually into the blues hall of fame for their historical contribution, impact, and overall influence on the blues. Blind folks had a hard timehe cant get in the hospital. Email me if you have any comments on the list or if you want to know how i compiled it. It reflects their impact, influence within their genre, and musical expression in addition to technical ability on the instrument. Shortened over time to the blues, it came to mean a state of agitation or depression.

On top of this, the book is very poorly edited, often stopping a sentence in the middle. The blues form, ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues and rock. He had a pronounced southern accent and reportedly worked in south georgia, kentucky, along the east coast, and in bristol, tennessee, before landing in chicago. The songs of blind folk explores the ways that the lives and careers of blind and visually impaired african american musicians and singers have mirrored the changes in americas image of african americans and the social positioning and possibilities of the entire black community. Only artists that began recording under their own name by no later than 1975 are included. Blues, secular folk music created by african americans in the early 20th century, originally in the south. Blues hall of fame aboutinductions blues foundation. The book offers a historically grounded consideration of african american. There are so many blues artists that had nicknames or had adopted alternate names that i thought it would be interesting to list some of them and identify where their nicknames came from. The world is known to have people of all kinds and varied opinions. The blues hall of fame honors those who have made the blues timeless through performance, documentation, and recording. Historically, many blind musicians, including some of the most famous, have.

This list is intended for those guitarists who exhibited a clear blues thread throughout their careers. His landmark recordings in 1936 and 1937 display a combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that has influenced later generations of musicians. Blues musicians are musical artists who are primarily recognized as writing, performing, and recording blues music. Blind blues musicians and their troubled, thrilling lives. Negro music in white america in 1963, and it is still one of the definitive texts about the blues. There are a lot of blues musicians with blind in their name. Hence, in olivers book edith johnson lists fa mous blues singers.

Jones approaches this musical genre from a sociological, historical, and political standpoint, starting with the early slave trade in america. The list is arranged in alphabetical order by nickname rather than surname. Not the strongest of their partnership but still very good, i could. Known as the empress of the blues, bessie smith was the best and most famous female singer. The name of this great american music probably originated with the 17thcentury english expression the blue devils, for the intense visual hallucinations that can accompany severe alcohol withdrawal. Blind bluesmen willie johnson, willie mctel, willie. The 100 greatest blues singers 3920 the 100 greatest blues singers 191 so here it is, a celebration of the 100 greatest blues singers, from the founders of the genre to the 60s bluerock revolution, right up to the new voices keeping the scene alive. Handy, named the father of the blues, described the musicians he saw around clarksdale as blind singers and footloose bards. They were called gandy dancers, partly because of their dancelike moves while working and singing. Abstract this paper will examine the history of the blues and the role that many female blues singers played in the development of the blues during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Jimmie rodgers 18971933, the great american singer, was just a lad working as a water boy on the railroad when he first heard a version of the blues from african american section gangs laying and straightening rails along the railroad track. The figure of the blind country bluesman became so iconic that when eddie lang, a sighted jazz guitarist, wanted to choose a black pseudonym for purposes of recording blues records with lonnie johnson, he naturally settled on blind willie dunn. This started as a list of acoustic or acousticbased blues artists with an informed mostly guess at the make of the instruments they used during the acoustic era, i. Blind lemon jefferson was the largestselling africanamerican blues singer in the.

This urban blues singer recorded 180 sides for columbia records and was notably called the empress of blues. His life, his death, and his legacy uzzel, robert l. List of blues musicians with name, birth year, death year, origin, primary style. Okehs san antonio location proved to be very successful, giving the field units access to the many barrelhouse blues pianists of the logging camps and to numerous blues singers who lived closer to houston.

But probably in terms of hours i spent listening with pleasure to a performer, it would be sonny terry. A furniture company recorded all of the top africanamerican blues and jazz performers of the 1920s. Top 10 blind bluesmen from before you were born listverse. Here is my ranking of the 300 most important recorded blues artists. Although many blues singers traveled north to record in chicago and new york, there. A collection of early blues sides by black blind musicians is an odd way to approach a blues anthology, but it works very well for this twodisc, 50track set, which not only delivers classic blues takes from the likes of ray charles, rev. King and billie holiday as well as mahalia jackson who was widely considered a gospel singer but was influenced by and certainly influenced other blues singers and little richard, who grew out of a blues background to invent rock n roll. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads. They come from different eras and include styles such as ragtimevaudeville, delta and country blues, and urban styles from chicago and the west coast. Despite its rosters firepower, the label folded after just 15 years in business. Charterss first book, the country blues, was published at the tail end of the 1950s, the rural southern blues of the preworld war ii period was a largely ignored genre. The songs of blind folk the university of michigan press.

Gary davis, blind boy fuller, sleepy john estes, blind willie johnson, blind blake, blind willie mctell. Robert johnson robert leroy johnson was an american blues singersongwriter and musician. The following list of nicknames of blues musicians complements the existing list of blues musicians by referring to their nicknames, stage names and pseudonyms, thereby helping to clarify possible confusion arising over artists with similar or the same nicknames. Learn more about blues, including notable musicians. Here komara and johnson answer the question of not only what is a blues book, but which ones are worth owning. He was blinded by a shotgun blast to the face in louisiana in the mid to. Bessie smith charley patton, blind lemon jefferson, and. The 50 best blues clubs in the best music cities in america. Did robert johnson sell his soul to play the blues. His song dark was the night, cold was the ground was included as one of the 27 samples of music sent to space in 1977 as part of the voyager golden record. The book offers a historically grounded consideration of african american performers and their audiences, and the. In the jazz and soul worlds, there wasnt anywhere near as. Blind willie johnson, blind willie mctell, blind lemon jeffersonin fact, just scroll down the blues hall of fame list and every third musician seems to be preceded with the word blind.

Blind john davis gained a big european following after touring with big bill bronzy, and sonny terry, a blind bluescumcountry singer, went on to star in steven spielberg s the color purple. Further it will examine and compare the lives of many historic female blues singers and the impact they had on the music industry. Once blind they were no good for working the land etc, so their only recourse was to sit down with a guitar as a means of earning money. Its a good package and if you dig old blues imagery the calender is pretty good and it has a bunch of bluesjazz singers birth and death dates on the calender part. Frank surge brief biographies of seventeen singers and musicians who helped develop the blues style and became legendary performers during their lifetime. Amazing blind auditions that surprised the judges youtube. Originating in the deep south, the blues has greatly influenced jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll. Simply the most powerful, most original and best blues artist of all time. Female blues singers in the 1920s and 1930s such as ma rainey, bessie smith and alberta hunter represented a more sophisticated style of blues than acoustic country blues artists such as charlie patton, blind lemon jefferson and blind willie johnson. Blues vocals have a different feel and timbre than other forms of popular music.

Winner of the 2016 living blues award for blues book of the year since the early. Paramount records book of the blues, in its biography for blind lemon jefferson, wrote can anyone imagine a more horrible fate than to find that one is blind. Blind musicians seem to be generally blues and jazz musicians, so country singer ronnie milsap is a bit of an oddity. David dicaire profiles the lives and musical careers of fifty blues singers born before 1940. He was blinded by a shotgun blast to the face in louisiana in the mid to late 1920s, which resulted in the physical loss of his eyes. The songs of blind folk university of michigan press. In praise of blind willie johnsons dark was the night. Talking book and innervisions that would prove to be the cornerstone of his career and, in many ways. Records artists papa charlie jackson, blind lemon jefferson, and blind blake, the king. The type of music known as the blues, was first recorded in 1920 by mamie smith crazy. Location recording and the early traditions of the blues.

Tim gracyks phonographs, singers, and old records the. List of blues musicians with name, birth year, death year, origin, primary style, and references name birth year death year origin primary style refs mozelle alderson. This is a list of the top blind and visually impaired american musicians of the electrofied era, 1940 to the present. History of rock n roll music experience 152 flashcards. We therefore can not but assume that blind melon simply nicked its name from blind.