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I’ve just finished reading “Delta Blues: The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Music“. This book is an incredibly read that any delta blues fan will enjoy. I love the way it’s written and the first section documents an unusual period of blues performances which was not discussed in “Deep Blues” by Robert Palmer. This is significant, because up to this point I had considered Deep Blues to be the best written and most comprehensive view of early blues development.

So this “Delta Blues” by Ted Gioia mentioned not only banjo blues as acknowledged in “Deep Blues” but also violin as an early blues instrument. My exploration of banjo blues was very enjoyable and I’m hoping violin blues is as much fun.

“Delta Blues” also discuses the effects on traveling minstrel shows and medicine shows on the development of commercial blues and the irony of early commercial blues artists having to imitate the imitators to gain commercial acceptance. Minstrel shows and medicine shows apparently imitated the musical activities of slaves and black culture in general and not always in a flattering fashion. Later black performers imitated these acts, which had gained early commercial success, as a means to launch their own music careers.

Ted Gioia then takes the book in the direction of dissecting and inspecting every known fact about the early life and career development of several key delta blues artists. Specifically he provides insight into the early life and career development of Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Howlin’ Wolf and B.B. King. Unlike other books that may focus on one musician or so many that you simply have a paragraph or two on each, Delta Blues provides a rich long chapter on each of these five musicians providing enough complete information that each chapter in itself could have been a short book.

In conclusion I give this book 5 stars – great writing, excellent research, concise information, personal insights and 5 autobiographies in one. Pick it up, you won’t regret it. One last note – I’m not alone in loving this book. It’s become so popular that Delta Blues: The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Music is now available to be pre-ordered in paperback for only $11.53.