Posted by Bill Haenel on 02-Mar-04

New History of Blues

From NYTimes.com: Revisionists Sing New Blues History

Elijah Wald's new "Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues" (Amistad/HarperCollins) is one of the most contentious yet, daring to suggest that Johnson's primacy was largely a creation of white fans and music critics of the 1960's.

Leave it to the white guys to mess it all up.

There was great discussion that aired on The Connection in January. It's worth a listen if you can get streaming audio. The conversation starts at Wald's book and goes on. Good stuff.

Wald's idea scares me. But I'll buy what this guy says:

Son

I think you get me.

• Music