Big Boss Man: The Life and Music of Bluesman Jimmy Reed

Book Description

Alcoholic. Epileptic. Technically challenged. Jimmy Reed nevertheless overcame these roadblocks to become perhaps the most successful RandB/pop cross-over artist of the '50s with songs like "Big Boss Man" and "Bright Lights, Big City." Musicians, family members, and those whose lives Reed touched offer revealing and heart-wrenching insights into this now-revered bluesman. While Reed's alcoholism was no secret, its effect on his musicianship is less understood. This engaging book tells the real story that until now has not been told.

Customer Reviews:

A Big Boss Book On The Big Boss Man!.......2007-09-17

The miraculous progress in blues scholarship over the last 20 years or so continues with this book about the great Jimmy Reed. There were virtually no liner notes on Jimmy Reed albums, so a well researched book like this one fills in much needed information. The bonus of a book like this is the circular effect of reading it. Jimmy Reed's music draws you to the book, and reading the book sends you back to the music to hear musical observations the author points out. The end result is a better appreciation for music you already loved!

Not Bad!.......2007-02-24

A valuable book, but more sense could be made of out the interviewees' conflicting recollections of Reed. Also, some facts are erroneous: the Beatles didn't record "Take Out Some Insurance" with Frank Ifield, as Romano asserts. A live recording of Ifield singing the song (backed by other British musicians) was issued on an LP that included both performances by Ifield and by the Beatles, but NOT together. Curiously, the Beatles were involved with Tony Sheridan, who did record the song. Romano doesn't mention this, though.

great read.......2006-11-10

This book looks at the life of Jimmy Reed. His music was and still is wonderful and very influencial. This book tells of his troubles of trying to make it to his successes to comebacks and all of the struggles he faced inbetween. It's a fascinating story that is very historical in it's content, but also a captivating read.

The Bluesman: The Musical Heritage of Black Men and Women in the Americas

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Not your ordinary Blues history book

The Bluesman: The Musical Heritage of Black Men and Women in the Americas
Julio Finn , and Willa Woolston
Manufacturer: Quartet Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0704325233

Customer Reviews:

Not your ordinary Blues history book.......2002-01-19

This Book takes you all the way back to the beginning; the real roots of the blues that is in the african culture which later became known as the"hoodoo" culture in America. This book explains the development of the Blues style,including related african instruments,vocal styles & songwriting. Also explains the connection between early blues music & the black church: A detailed,but fascinating read!!!

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Heartstrings are played like harmonicas.
Coming of age in the Summer of Love
I finished the book with the hope it would get better. It didn't.
What it didn't say, said a lot
An entrancing story

Bluesman
Andre Dubus
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0099426889

Book Description

With House of Sand and Fog, his National Book Award-nominated novel, Andre Dubus III demonstrated his mastery of the complexities of character and desire. In this earlier novel he captures a roiling time in American history and the coming-of-age of a boy who must decide between desire, ambition, and duty.

In the summer of 1967, Leo Suther has one more year of high school to finish and a lot more to learn. He's in love with the beautiful Allie Donovan who introduces him to her father, Chick — a construction foreman and avowed Communist. Soon Leo finds himself in the midst of a consuming love affair and an intense testing of his political values. Chick's passionate views challenge Leo's perspective on the escalating Vietnam conflict and on just where he stands in relation to the new people in his life. Throughout his — and the nation's — unforgettable "summer of love," Leo is learning the language of the blues, which seem to speak to the mourning he feels for his dead mother, his occasionally distant father, and the youth which is fast giving way to manhood.

Customer Reviews:

Heartstrings are played like harmonicas........2007-03-27

I am writing this review fresh off the read....just hugged the book before I tucked it back on my bookshelves. It is my ultimate praise as the book touched my heart so deeply.

"The House of Sand and Fog" is on my top ten list of all time books...high praise given I have read thousands in my lifetime. That said, I love that "Bluesman" has a totally different feel. Our young protaginist, Leo, 18 years old, stands on the precipice of adulthood, being pushed over more quickly by a troubled love affair, heartbreaking decisions, a desire to escape emotional pain and the "sign of the times." This novel is set in 1969 in the heat of the Vietnam war and the season of free love:

"He wished he had a picture of him and Allie to pack too. He remembered how she said this was the summer of free love, but Leo didn't believe love was free. As far as he could tell, love cost people more than anything."

The writing is exquisite as exampled, the story heartbreaking yet uplifting. Where "House and Sand" was a roller coaster ride, this is a quiet jumble in a pickup, savoring the sights as senses are heightened by the fullness of the surroundings. Andre Dubus III characters are written so acutely it disables complacency in the reader. The plotline is steady; the writing intrinsic; the story is the blues and whether played on harmonicas or heartstrings, the effect is much the same. Play on, Leo, play on.

Coming of age in the Summer of Love.......2006-08-09

In the summer of 1967, the year he turns 18, Leo Suther learns much in his passage to young adulthood. The lessons themselves are not unusual, but there is nothing wrong in that; this is a small Massachusetts blue-collar town in a time which still had some innocence. Leo falls in love. He starts working in construction, and finds himself good at it. He gets close to his boss (and his girlfriend's father), an idealistic Communist. He comes to a deeper understanding of his own father's love for his mother, who died when Leo was five. He begins to think about Vietnam, at a time when the US casualty rate is rising. And he learns to play the blues harmonica -- hence the title of the book.

There are some affecting moments here, but not much depth in what is clearly a first novel. Some of the larger themes die out, while others (like the diaries which Leo's mother wrote as she was dying) seem artificial. The most consistently developed strands are Leo's love life, which is rocky, and his progress as a bluesman, which seems impossibly fast -- but then I am not that kind of musician, so what do I know? But set within a smallish frame, the book does succeed as a relatively quiet portrait of a time, a place, and some characters who are warm and seemingly true.

I finished the book with the hope it would get better. It didn't........2006-02-16

A few years ago I read "House of Sand and Fog" by this author and thought it was great. That's why I was anxious to read this earlier novel of his. From the blurb on the cover I learned it was set in the late 60s, during a time of political turmoil in America. I therefore thought the author would use his talent to bring us back to a time and place that created major changes in the American landscape.

Well, the story IS about young man's coming of age during this period. But it never deals with any of the real conflicts that were going on at the time. Instead it is about his romance with a young woman and family relationships. And, frankly, some of the people and situations he describes are just not believable. There's the story of his mother, who died when he was a baby but left behind a diary of her life. The boy's father never got over his grief and his recreational activity is playing guitar and playing poker. One of his friends teaches the boy to play the harmonica and we all see that this is the boy's calling. The girl he romances comes from a strange family. Her father, a nut-job communist, is a house builder and tries to force Communist ideals down the throats of the men who work for him. Naturally, violence erupts. This is all supposed to happen in a little Massachusetts town that is so backward that the main characters don't even have a TV. And this is in 1968!

The Vietnam War is just a backdrop to the story. I never got a feeling about the real undercurrent of conflict and change that was happening in the country. Mostly, the story was about a budding love and its consequences. I was soon bored but I pushed myself to finish the book in hopes it would get better. It didn't.

What it didn't say, said a lot.......2004-10-23

Andre Dubus III, writes in a way that is so pointed, yet understated that when I had finished the book, I could appreciate the complete greatness of it. Bluesman is set in 1967 and as any American historian knows, we were, as a country was headed into turmoil. Dubus III takes the time period and manages to capture the innocense of small town values as America was embracing the war in Vietnam and the sexual freedom (awakenings) in America. This view of these issues contrasts the way America looks back at these very same issues, and Dubus captures the way it was, rather than the we choose to remember it.

I also found Dubus III was able to spin a tremendous plot in a well written, sensitive way. There were strong ties between a father and a son, a first love involving the son and a girl from high school, as well as how the loss of a spouse effects people and the decisions they make. It certainly is a picture that Norman Rockwell would paint, in a time that Rockwell's work was being displaced as the accepted images of America.

An entrancing story.......2003-02-14

I have no idea why the Kirkus reviewer essentially trashed this book. I found it entrancing. Dubus is a great storyteller, and he made me care about the characters. His prose is amazing: without the usual descriptive tricks (adjectives and adverbs), he creates a living, breathing world populated by well-realized characters.

Product Description

This instructional book/CD pack will let players see why Clapton is such a legend! Examines 11 songs: Have You Ever Loved a Woman Hideaway I Feel Free I'm So Glad Steppin' Out Strange Brew Sunshine of Your Love more. All Your Love (I Miss Loving) Have You Ever Loved A Woman Hide Away I Ain't Got You I Feel Free I'm So Glad I'm Tore Down Politician Steppin' Out Strange Brew Sunshine Of Your Love

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Bluesman Series

Bluesman: Book 2 (Bluesman)
Rob Vollmar , and Pablo G. Callejo
Manufacturer: Nantier Beall Minoustchine Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1561634565

Customer Reviews:

Bluesman Series.......2007-01-06

I read a fair number of comics or graphic novels if you prefer that classification. I don't consider myself to be a geek, in that I have no fetish for artwork. I appreciate a good story. The Bluesman series is well written, with a lot of historical information, and illustrated in a realistic way that adds to the story and helps set the mood and establish the truth of the times. Highly recommended. I understand that the compilation will be out soon. Might be worth waiting for to be able to read the whole series at once.

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Bluesman 3 (Bluesman)
Rob Vollmar
Manufacturer: ComicsLit
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 156163476X

Book Description

The buzz is mounting on this series! The law hot on his trail, Bluesman Lem Taylor travels to Little Rock seeking out J.L. Dougherty, the one man that might still have the power to help him escape this nightmare alive. But with storm clouds brewing on the horizon, can Lem find shelter before his best hope becomes his worst nightmare? Find out in the explosive climax to this ground-breaking saga!

The World Don't Owe Me Nothing: The Life and Times of Delta Bluesman Honeyboy Edwards

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Fans of blues music will relish this autobiography
The Genuine Article
A great American life
The memoir of a great Bluesman.
Enlightening

The World Don't Owe Me Nothing: The Life and Times of Delta Bluesman Honeyboy Edwards
David Honeyboy Edwards
Manufacturer: Chicago Review Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1556522754

Book Description

This vivid oral snapshot of an America that planted the blues is full of rhythmic grace. From the son of a sharecropper to an itinerant bluesman, Honeyboy’s stories of good friends Charlie Patton, Big Walter Horton, Little Walter Jacobs, and Robert Johnson are a godsend to blues fans. History buffs will marvel at his unique perspective and firsthand accounts of the 1927 Mississippi River flood, vagrancy laws, makeshift courts in the back of seed stores, plantation life, and the Depression.

Customer Reviews:

Fans of blues music will relish this autobiography.......2001-02-15

Fans of blues music and musicians will relish this autobiography of Delta bluesman Edwards, which charts his rise to fame and his survival in a critical musical world. His first-person observations of the changing blues style and field are especially meaningful given that so many blues titles are not written by participants in the field.

The Genuine Article.......2000-08-04

Honey and his astute collaborators have given us the genuine article: a poignant, detailed, uproarous chronicle of what Robert Palmer called the"Deep Blues," the Delta tradition from which all other blues styles emanate. If you've heard Honey sing either in person or on his fine recordings, you will hear the voice you read. He offers dozens of unforgettable moments, from the first sounds he ushers from a broken-necked guitar to his mother's death to the death of Robert Johnson, that are alive and chilling. My only criticism is that the photographs featured in the book are spartan, contemporary views of critical sites in this artist's life. More historical photography would have enhanced the text. The publisher of this well-designed softcover has made the text relaxingly readable. After my first 50 pages, I wanted to purchase all of Honey's recordings and read more about him. He is an articulate, funny, precise chronicler of his own life. If only I could do the same with my own life! First rate.

A great American life.......2000-04-22

This autobiography succeeds memorably on several levels. Told in spare, moving words, it provides a vivid picture of life in the Mississippi Delta long before the civil rights movements of the '50s. In addition, it's a kind of African-American "On the Road," told from the perspective of one who crisscrossed the Southern United States, scuffling to make a living playing the blues. And finally, it's a terrific history of the blues, told by a man who made a significant musical contribution himself and who played with nearly all the essential artists of the '30s and on.

Edwards, born in the Delta around 1915, worked the fields as a kid before he learned to play the guitar and began hoboing around the South. He rode the rails, played in innumerable small towns, and polished his craft. Along the way, he hung out and played with the likes of Sunnyland Slim, Big Walter Horton, Little Walter Jacobs, Robert Junior Lockwood, Muddy Waters, B.B. King and yes, Robert Johnson. The book describes how these architects of the modern blues passed songs, licks, and stories back and forth, keeping a form that relies so heavily on tradition dynamic and vital.

A major strength of the book is Edwards' distinctive voice, transcribed by his collaborators to retain its distinctive rhythms and dialect. The book's title sums up his attitude. His memories include violent death, physical and emotional loss, and great material want. Still, you sense strongly that he wouldn't have had his life any other way. His narrative is devoid of self-pity, but it never glosses over the difficulty of the times he endured, which included stints in prison.

The book concludes with useful appendices that define key terms and offer capsule biographies and discographies of musicians Edwards encountered. A good bibliography is also included. Highly recommended for those interested in the blues and in American social history. Great read.

The memoir of a great Bluesman........1999-03-08

What a life! 82 years old Bluesman Honeyboy Edwards is one last Bluesmen alive that knew Robert Johnson but that is not the basis of the book. Edwards has lived a life that makes anyone really understand what the Blues is all about and other bluesmen back in the 1930's and 40's who shaped blues music.

Honeyboy's tales gives the reader his firsthand accounts of plantation life, the 1927 Mississippi River flood, vagrancy laws, makeshift courts, the racial problem and economics of southern blacks and the Depression.

This book came about because of the stories that Honeyboy told his manager of 25 years, Michael Robert Frank, who is also the founder of Earwig Records and Janis Martinson, a freelance writer. Martinson did the transcribing and left Honeyboy's speech patterns intact. My friend, Travis Brown is from Tennessee and after reading this book remarked that reading the words of Honeyboy took him back "home". Martinson also did the research and wrote the three appendices that appear in the back of the book. Want to find out what the "killin' floor" is (was) than buy this book.

Earwig has also issued a CD with the same title, I had that CD and Robert Johnson's in my changer while I read the book, they provided the perfect soundtrack to the theater of the mind.

Tony Houston, 1999

Enlightening.......1998-02-08

Now I know why the Delta, Memphis, St Louis, and Chicago all claim to be the "birthplace of the blues"! Honeyboy Edwards & Co made their mark on all these cities.

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Not an autobiography but a great book
Keep on Keepin' On
Taj Mahal.....everyone's friend!!
Buy the albums instead
Despite the title, not an autobiography

Taj Mahal: Autobiography of a Bluesman
Taj Mahal , and Stephen Foehr
Manufacturer: Sanctuary Publishing, Ltd.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Taj Mahal - Live at Ronnie Scott's

ASIN: 1860744311

Book Description

With 40 albums behind him, including two Grammy Award winners, Taj Mahal conveys his personal honest and frank account of his life and legacy.

Customer Reviews:

Not an autobiography but a great book.......2004-11-03

This book is portraying this bluesman in his own words, but also by the words of many others. It is unfair to label this as a "bad" book just by the fact that it is not an autobiography. And people complain about reading about his life. . . a book about a musician would not be a book if it didn't focus on his life. You can hear the music, but you need to read his life. This is a well written book with many celebrity interviews about this influential artist. I've bought this book for several people with no regrets. . .they don't regret reading it either. They do nothing but rave about it, and that's all that I can do.

Keep on Keepin' On.......2003-06-25

I truly loved this book about a legendary bluesman. He seemed to be up-front and honest about his personal life and trials as well as experiences in the cutthroat world of music as business. Interviews-with/comments-from "stars" in the music industry like Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt and Mick Jagger showed just what an indelible mark Taj has made on their lives. Stories from Taj's family were poignant.

Taj Mahal.....everyone's friend!!.......2003-06-13

The best way for me to describe this book is this. I will simply quote the announcer who introduces Taj on his live album "The Real Thing"..."If you didn't come here with a friend, you have one on the stage right now, Mr. Taj Mahal!".

Buy the albums instead.......2002-04-03

I am a huge fan of this great artist. But I have a problem with the book. It's not an autobiography. The real author must've cut some sort of deal with taj, because the real writer patiently gathered info from all corners of the earth. The only thing Taj seems to have done is a few lenghty interviews. It was disappointing to read of someone who has been so musically inspiring and yet so flawed as a regular guy. He's fathered over a dozen children by several women, yet the book desperately tries to portray him as a man of integrity and high moral fibre.

Taj has followed in the old bluesman tradition of loving and leaving. His legacy is littered with testimonials of people who desperately want to recognize his goodness, and yet the wounds his lifestyle has left them with are huge.

The New Age, hippie rationales that his 'family' blabs on and on with is almost laughable, unfortunately tragic.

Unless you are a real fan of this musical genius, don't bother with the book. Check out his albums instead.

Despite the title, not an autobiography.......2001-11-28

There are two major problems with this book. First, for someone as passionate about music as Taj, there is very little about Taj's music in the book. Other than the author's experiences at a few shows, there is little discussion of Taj's classic albums. It isn't until page 236 of the 280 page text that we get any substantive discussion of Taj's music. Instead we get overwhelmed with stories of Taj's 15 kids by about half a dozen women. Whether he's at fault or not, it gets really boring reading about Taj's kids and lovers talking about how Taj wasn't there for them.

The second problem with the book is the subject himself. Despite appearing to be a willing interviewee, Taj reveals himself to be one of those people who is simply incapable of answering the question, "How did this make you feel?" When pressed for his feelings on events in his life, Taj invariably steers his answers into discussions on fishing or food or music.

Customer Reviews:

Bodyglin Lipscomb.......2006-01-17

I thought that this book was very interesting from both the music standpoint and his everyday living. The vernacular spelling was neither trivializing or confusing, but it did slow down my reading of the book. The vernacular issue is something that plagues the oral history genre and seems to have no real good answer.

More than the blues.......2003-01-09

This is a book that has stayed with me long after I read it. Mance has a way of speaking very directly and has a storytellers flare for keeping his narratives interesting. I picked it up as a book on the blues but I remember it as a rare frank and fascinating conversation with a man from a very different social, political and racial reality. Seeing Les Blank's documentary "A Well Spent Life" will give you Mance's voice and enable you to read the dialect with ease. It makes me wish that someone would release a CD of Mance telling stories. Glen Alyn deserves credit for his courage to transcribe the dialect and for offering just the right amount of commentary before stepping aside.

Difficult to read, but definitely worthwhile........1997-01-26

No doubt Glen Alyn has done a lot of hard work putting this book together, but you do get the feeling this is not the best work on Mance Lipscomb imaginable. Lipscomb is a highly skilled story-teller and doesn't need the author's phonetic transcribtions to come across. If Alyn really wanted us to know about Mance's particular dialect, he should have had the book accompanied by a tape instead. Having said that, however, the book is still very entertaining, and at the end of the book we actually do have quite a clear understanding of Mance Lipscomb and the world he lived in

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