Charters has devoted his life to studying and writing about the blues, and this book (covering 1956 through 2004) includes thoughtful liner notes, larger essays and deeply felt excerpts from his books The Legacy of the Blues
and The Roots of the Blues
. After he heard Bessie Smith's "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" in 1937, he says, "blues became my life." The music helped him through a friendless, poverty-plagued childhood, and when he realized he was incapable of writing scathing record reviews, he concentrated on spotlighting the virtues of those he admired. Colorful figures in this work include Blind Willie Johnson, a guitar-playing evangelist who lost his sight when his mother, in a fit of rage, threw a pan of lye water in his face; legendary Texas bluesman Lightnin' Hopkins; and Robert Johnson, master of "superb sexual imagery." Charters analyzes styles, repertoires and chords in a lean, comprehensive manner that will appeal to musical sophisticates and laypersons alike. His most visceral portrayal of a musician's emotional commitment to music is of Memphis Willie B. When steel guitar strings had worn blisters on his fingers and the blisters had broken, he refused to quit, saying he wasn't feeling a thing. (June)
