Overview

First published in 1965 by Cassell and Co, this classic and unique text in blues history, Conversation with the Blues has now been re-issued in a new, larger format. The book takes a slice across blues traditions of all kinds, which were still thriving side by side in 1960. Compiled from transcriptions of interviews with blues singers made by Paul Oliver in 1960, the book tells in the singers' own words of the significance of their music and the turbulent lives it reflects. It is accompanied by a fascinating CD, slipcased on the inside back cover of the book, which captures the stark, ironic but moving narratives of the singers themselves. Included are guitarists, pianists and other instrumentalists from the rural South and the urban North, from famous blues singers who recorded extensively to singers known only to their local communities. Copiously illustrated with Paul Oliver's photographs, the book provides a rare glimpse of African American music at a time when the South was still segregated.

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9780521598262

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Reviews

'Conversation with the Blues, a beautiful and very important book first published in 1965 and now reissued with a fascinating preface and the histories of those he recorded all that time ago ... Even if you have the first edition of this essential book, it is well worth buying the reprint. Apart from bringing the whole thing up to date, it has a CD tucked inside the back cover.' The Daily Telegraph

'Conversation with the Blues, a beautiful and very important book first published in 1965 and now reissued with a fascinating preface and the histories of those he recorded all that time ago ... Even if you have the first edition of this essential book, it is well worth buying the reprint. Apart from bringing the whole thing up to date, it has a CD tucked inside the back cover.' The Daily Telegraph '... a wonderful mixture of the literary, the graphic and the musical ... there can hardly be a better opportunity to spend a happy evening at home with the blues.' The Times Literary Supplement '... an indispensable document in blues history ... a book unique, not only in his output, but also for its immediacy, passion and subdued anger ... Conversation preserves a blues history that would otherwise have disappeared.' Wire 'This wonderful book of words and pictures is a new edition.' Richard Stevens, Irish Independent 'Paul Oliver is the one author who really knows the blues. He researches the music and background thoroguhly and has a passion and a deep understanding of this truly American music.' Jazz Journal '... one of the most valuable reference books in the entire blues library'. Folk Roots

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