Memphis Blues

The blues was born in the Mississippi Delta, and since that fateful night in 1903 when W. C. Handy heard the mournful sound of a pocketknife sliding over the strings of an acoustic guitar and the plaintive song of a long-forgotten musician in the hot night of Tutwiler, Mississippi, the blues has been on a journey around the world. From the cotton fields and juke joints of the Delta, up Highway 61 to Memphis's Beale Street, St. Louis, the Southside of Chicago, England, and points beyond, the blues is America's unique form of music. Blues is incisive in its honesty, elemental in its rhythm, and powerful in its almost visceral sensation. Nearly every style of popular music has its roots in the blues. Muddy Waters said it best: "The blues had a baby, and they called it rock and roll." Memphis has become the heart of the blues world, with a re-born Beale Street acting as its spiritual center. People come from the world over to experience its beat, savor its emotion, and feel its power. In the end . . . "it ain't nothin' but the blues."

The blues was born in the Mississippi Delta, and since that fateful night in 1903 when W. C. Handy heard the mournful sound of a pocketknife sliding over the strings of an acoustic guitar and the plaintive song of a long-forgotten musician in the hot night of Tutwiler, Mississippi, the blues has been on a journey around the world. From the cotton fields and juke joints of the Delta, up Highway 61 to Memphis's Beale Street, St. Louis, the Southside of Chicago, England, and points beyond, the blues is America's unique form of music. Blues is incisive in its honesty, elemental in its rhythm, and powerful in its almost visceral sensation. Nearly every style of popular music has its roots in the blues. Muddy Waters said it best: "The blues had a baby, and they called it rock and roll." Memphis has become the heart of the blues world, with a re-born Beale Street acting as its spiritual center. People come from the world over to experience its beat, savor its emotion, and feel its power. In the end . . . "it ain't nothin' but the blues."

Those Crazy Memphis Blues is a coming of age story overflowing with humor. Searching for excitement while armed with little more than false hope, poor judgment, eternal optimism and a bicycle, Matt Dwyer gets more than he bargained for when he moves to Memphis, Tennessee. Immersed in the theatre world of 1980’s Memphis, our hero finds himself the victim of an endless series of hysterically bizarre situations triggered by whacky neighbors, psychotic girlfriends, a profanity spewing boss, and an alcoholic roommate. Attempting to maintain his sanity amidst an unrelenting onslaught of implausible circumstances and eccentric characters is more than enough to give Matt Dwyer a severe case of Those Crazy Memphis Blues.

After Siu and Heffelfinger, two well-known Vancouver foodies, fell in love with Southern barbecue they started the Memphis Blues Barbeque House. This recipe collection helps home cooks create some of the South's most legendary dishes.

The Blues Encyclopedia is the first full-length authoritative Encyclopedia on the Blues as a musical form. While other books have collected biographies of blues performers, none have taken a scholarly approach. A to Z in format, this Encyclopedia covers not only the performers, but also musical styles, regions, record labels and cultural aspects of the blues, including race and gender issues. Special attention is paid to discographies and bibliographies.

This comprehensive two-volume set brings together all aspects of the blues from performers and musical styles to record labels and cultural issues, including regional evolution and history. Organized in an accessible A-to-Z format, the Encyclopedia of the Blues is an essential reference resource for information on this unique American music genre. For a full list of entries, contributors, and more, visit the Encyclopedia of the Blues website.

A Blues Bibliography, Second Edition is a revised and enlarged version of the definitive blues bibliography first published in 1999. Material previously omitted from the first edition has now been included, and the bibliography has been expanded to include works published since then. In addition to biographical references, this work includes entries on the history and background of the blues, instruments, record labels, reference sources, regional variations and lyric transcriptions and musical analysis. The Blues Bibliography is an invaluable guide to the enthusiastic market among libraries specializing in music and African-American culture and among individual blues scholars.