Overview

The frank, funny, and unforgettable autobiography of a living legend of Chicago blues.     Simply put, Billy Boy Arnold is one of the last men standing from the Chicago blues scene’s raucous heyday. What’s more, unlike most artists in this electrifying melting pot, who were Southern transplants, Arnold—a harmonica master who shared stages with Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, and Howlin’ Wolf, plus a singer and hitmaker in his own right who first recorded the standards “I Wish You Would” and “I Ain’t Got You”—was born right here and has lived nowhere else. This makes his perspective on Chicago blues, its players, and its locales all the rarer and all the more valuable. Arnold has witnessed musical generations come and go, from the decline of prewar country blues, to the birth of the electric blues and the worldwide spread of rock and roll. Working here in collaboration with writer and fellow musician Kim Field, he gets it all down. The Blues Dream of Billy Boy Arnold is a remarkably clear-eyed testament to more than eighty years of musical love and creation, from Arnold’s adolescent quest to locate the legendary Sonny Boy Williamson, the story of how he named Bo Diddley Bo Diddley, and the ups and downs of his seven-decade recording career. Arnold’s tale—candidly told with humor, insight, and grit—is one that no fan of modern American music can afford to miss.  

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9780226809205

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Reviews

No one has lived the Chicago blues like Billy Boy Arnold, and no one has more stories. This book is a journey through eighty years of history with an incredible supporting cast and a particularly charming and observant guide, who saw it all and is still making wonderful music. * Elijah Wald, Grammy Award winner and author of Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues * The Blues Dream of Billy Boy Arnold is in every respect not just excellent but exemplary: a blues autobiography to be reckoned with. Arnold-by dint of his unusually long career, his exceptionally detailed memory, and his many friendships with key figures on the scene-is the only one who can tell this particular story. His shrewd, candid appraisals of his peers, leavened with quirky detail, add significantly to our understanding of postwar Chicago blues. * Adam Gussow, author of Whose Blues?: Facing Up to Race and the Future of the Music *

Billy Boy Arnold's great Vee-Jay sides were a big influence on me when I was first starting out. The first two singles I ever played on were covers of Billy Boy Arnold tunes that I recorded with the Yardbirds. I'm very happy to see his amazing personal story finally appear in print. * Eric Clapton, Grammy Award-winning member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame *

Author Information

Billy Boy Arnold was born in Chicago in 1935. A harmonica player, guitarist, singer, and songwriter who has played with Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and others, his many albums include More Blues on the South Side, Eldorado Cadillac, and The Blues Soul of Billy Boy Arnold. Kim Field is an active musician and the author of Harmonicas, Harps, and Heavy Breathers: The History of the People's Instrument.

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