Awards

• Winner of Best Historical Recorded Sound Research in Blues, Gospel, or R&B.
• Winner of Music Library Association's Vincent H. Duckles Award .
• Winner of Music Library Association's Vincent H. Duckles Award.

Overview

Search the Internet for the 100 best songs or best albums. Dozens of lists will appear from aficionados to major music personalities. But what if you not only love listening to the blues or country music or jazz or rock, you love reading about it, too. How do you separate what matters from what doesn’t among the hundreds—sometimes thousands—of books on the music you so love? In the Best Music Books series, readers finally have a quick-and-ready list of the most important works published on modern major music genres by leading experts. In 100 Books Every Blues Fan Should Own, Edward Komara, former Blues Archivist of the University of Mississippi, and his successor Greg Johnson select those histories, biographies, surveys, transcriptions and studies from the many hundreds of works that have been published about this vital American musical genre. Komara and Johnson provide a short description of the contents and the achievement of each title selected for their “Blues 100.” Entries include full bibliographic citations, prices of copies in print, and even descriptions of specific editions for book collectors. 100 Books Every Blues Fan Should Own also includes suggested blues recordings to accompany each recommended work, as well as a concluding section on key reference titles—or as Komara and Johnson phrase it: “The Books behind the Blues 100.” 100 Books Every Blues Fan Should Own serves as a guide for any blues fan looking for a road map through the history of—and even history of the scholarship on—the blues. Here Komara and Johnson answer the question of not only what is a “blues” book, but which ones are worth owning.

Full Product Details

9780810889217

Table of Contents

Reviews

This readable and informative book's premise is simple: coauthors Komara (Crane Librarian of Music, State Univ. of New York, Potsdam; former blues archivist, Univ. of Mississippi) and Johnson (blues curator, Univ. of Mississippi), both very knowledgeable blues fans, have assembled 100 titles that they feel could and should be read by those who want to know more about the scope of blues history in the United States. The examples range from scholarly works to popular, more readable books. The aim was to include titles still readily available through libraries or popular booksellers. The first entry covers Lawrence Cohn's Nothing But the Blues: The Music and the Musicians, a great place for anyone to start. Each entry lists price, availability, and layout and provides a description of the subjects covered. Most people will probably not read the book cover to cover, but it is quite browsable. The table of contents lists the subject matter and titles, so neophytes and experts alike can easily find a suitable book for further investigation. This is the sort of work that all libraries with blues collections should own. Highly recommended. Library Journal

This readable and informative book's premise is simple: coauthors Komara (Crane Librarian of Music, State Univ. of New York, Potsdam; former blues archivist, Univ. of Mississippi) and Johnson (blues curator, Univ. of Mississippi), both very knowledgeable blues fans, have assembled 100 titles that they feel could and should be read by those who want to know more about the scope of blues history in the United States. The examples range from scholarly works to popular, more readable books. The aim was to include titles still readily available through libraries or popular booksellers. The first entry covers Lawrence Cohn's Nothing But the Blues: The Music and the Musicians, a great place for anyone to start. Each entry lists price, availability, and layout and provides a description of the subjects covered. Most people will probably not read the book cover to cover, but it is quite browsable. The table of contents lists the subject matter and titles, so neophytes and experts alike can easily find a suitable book for further investigation. This is the sort of work that all libraries with blues collections should own. Highly recommended. Library Journal It is a good read with a nice way of getting the facts across. The Bristol Press This is the 101st book every blues fan should own. Blues Beat News Komara and Johnson have combined their considerable experience and expertise to curate a list of books they deem essential to a thorough understanding of African American blues music and cultures...The authors adopt a readable style for their entries: each is given a short title that summarizes the particular book's thesis, and they outline its contents in clear prose as well as provide critiques and context, bibliographic information, and purchasing advice...100 Books Every Blues Fan Should Own is a worthy resource for all admirers of the genre. Living Blues The Blues are all about the stories, and there are many stories out there about the women and men who create this music. Edward Komara, former Blues archivist of the University of Mississippi, and his successor Greg Johnson pulled together perhaps the definitive bibliography of books about the blues in their new release 100 Books Every Blues Fan Should Own. -- Steve Chavis, co-host of First Take with Lando & Chavis, KUVO (Denver)

Author Information

Edward Komara is the Crane Librarian of Music at the State University of New York at Potsdam. From 1993 to 2001 he was the Blues Archivist/Music Librarian at the University of Mississippi. He is the editor of The Encyclopedia of the Blues (2006) and author of The Road to Robert Johnson (2007). Greg Johnson has served as Blues Curator and Associate Professor at the University of Mississippi's Blues Archive since 2002. As a musician, he regularly performs traditional and contemporary Irish and American folk music on Celtic harp, guitar, and tin whistle and jazz and classical music on double bass.

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