Blues from the Delta

I bought Blues from the Delta by William Ferris after purchasing another book by him. Dr. Stephens sent me a picture of a book he saw in a bookstore because he thought it may interest me. That book was Give My Poor Heart Ease: Voices of the Mississippi Blues, also by William Ferris. After scanning that book briefly and looking at some footage from the accompanying DVD, I decided to order  Blues from the Delta.

Blues from the Delta is the book that came out of William Ferris' dissertation, and at times, really reads as such. However, it has a lot of great insight into the blues from musicians who are living and playing in the Mississippi delta. It is evident that Ferris truly cares about this style of music and the people associated with it. He takes an ethnographic approach to his study, spending time with the musicians, getting to know them and talking about their life as it relates to the blues. As such, Ferris is able to provide some great insight into the lyrics, lifestyle, musicianship, and racial tension associated with the blues.

While not a book I will use as one of the textbooks for my course, it certainly has a lot of information that I will likely use as supplementary material.

Blues from the Delta