- goes back to the turn of the century. As a folk music of the American negro, it has roots which extend back into slavery and its qualities can be traced to the first meeting of the European folk song with the traditional music of Africa. From the work songs of slavery, the field hollers which largely replaced them, and the ballads and country music of the American Negro, the blues emerged at the end of the nineteenth century

The Story of the Blues contains a unique collection of both contemporary and historic photographs, many never previously published, together with graphic material and printed ephemera, making a total of over 500 illustrations. The detailed text traces the origins of the music, the growth of regional schools and the part that this folk art of the twentieth century has played in black society.

Whether in rural Southern communities or the ghettos of American cities, blues is both a form of popular enter-tainment and a music of self expression, the significant creation of the Negro. This book places the inspiration of singers like Charley Patton and Blind Lemon Jefferson half a century ago, or Muddy Waters and Lightnin' Hopkins today, in the context of their lives and surround-ings. It examines the work of the great jazz blues singers like 'Ma' Rainey or Bessie Smith and of the 'jug' and 'washboard' bands. The various facets of the blues are considered, from its themes and subjects to the importance of the recording industry in the distribution of the music. The story is brought up to date through the Chicago blues of the 'forties, the Rhythm and Blues trends of the postwar years, the 'blues revival' and the current state of the music. There are lists of recommended literature and

recordings.

The Story of the Blues is the story of the music of a racial minority which was born in segregation and nurtured by the growing demand for equality made by the black community in this century. It is therefore not merely the history of a music but a reflection of the tumult within American society..