Yonder Come the Blues The Evolution of a Genre

Combines three influential and much-quoted books on African-American music.

Yonder Come the Blues combines three influential and much-quoted books: Savannah Syncopators; Blacks, Whites and Blues and Recording the Blues. Updated with additional essays, this 2001 volume discusses the crucial early development of the blues as a music of Blacks in the United States, explaining some of the most significant factors that shaped this music. Together, these three texts emphasise the significance of the African heritage, the mutuality of much white and black music and the role of recording in consolidating the blues, thus demonstrating the importance of these formative elements in its complex but combined socio-musical history. Redressing some of the misconceptions that persist in writing on African-American music, this book will be essential reading for all enthusiasts of blues, jazz and country music and will be important for students of African-American studies and music, popular music and popular culture.

Introduction: yonder come the Blues Paul Oliver; Book One. Savannah Syncopators: African retentions in the Blues: 1. Afternoon - Nangodi; 2. Africa and jazz historian; 3. Music in West Africa; 4. Savannah song; 5. The source of the slaves; 6. Africa and the Blues; 7. Afterword Paul Oliver; Book Two. Blacks, Whites and Blues: Foreword; 8. Minstrelsy; 9. Old familiar tunes; 10. Letting out the Blues; 11. The Idea of the White People; 12. Out West; 13. Out East; 14. Afterword Tony Russell; Book Three. Recording The Blues: 15. The birth of a new industry; 16. The new market 1920–2; 17. The classic blues; 18. Into the field 1927–30; 19. Hard times; 20. Urban blues 1934–40; 21. End of an era 1941–5 Robert M. W. Dixon and John Godrich; 22. Afterword Howard Rye.

This 2001 volume combines the three influential books, Savannah Syncopators; Blacks, Whites and Blues and Recording the Blues, updated with additional essays. Together these books confront the problem of how, when and from where the blues emerged and developed, and redress some persistant misconceptions in writing on African-American music.