The Devil's music
Subtitle: a history of the blues
By: Giles Oakley
Edition: 2nd ed., updated.
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Published: 1997
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 311
Subjects: Blues (Music) -- History and criticism
Description: The Devil's Music is one of the only books to trace the rise and development of the blues both in relation to other forms of black music and in the context of American social history as experienced by African Americans. From its roots in the turn-of-the-century honky-tonks of New Orleans and the barrelhouses and plantations of the Mississippi Delta to modern legends such as John Lee Hooker and B. B. King, the blues comes alive here through accounts by the blues musicians themselves and those who knew them.

Throughout this wide-ranging and fascinating book, BBC-TV producer Giles Oakley describes the texture of the life that made the blues possible, and the changing attitudes towards the music. The Devil's Music is a wholehearted and loving examination of one of America's most powerful traditions.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 282-286), discography (p. 287-290), and indexes.
"First Da Capo Press edition"--T.p. verso.
Originally published: London, 1983. With new afterword by the author.