Rebecca Brazil
Text Set: The Blues (High School)
EDC 448
May 31, 2009
Essential questions:
Where did the blues come from?
Who were the most important blues musicians?
Offline Texts:

Holiday, Billie, William Dufty, and Vincent Pelote. Lady Sings the Blues. London: Penguin, 1992.
Print.
This is an autobiography by the famous blues singer Billie Holiday. It is a 203 page
paperback written in a conversational style. Some of the information may be
exaggerated, but it paints an interesting picture of Holiday’s life. This biography gives
the reader a very good feeling for the back story of many blues musicians.

Lewis, J. Patrick., and Gary Kelley. Black Cat Bone. North Mankato, Minn.: Creative Editions,
2006. Print.
This 32 page young adult book tells the tale of the legendary blues musician Robert
Johnson in the form of poetry, blues lyrics, and illustrations. It offers insight into the
hard life of a blues musician, and relates Johnson’s music to the music of today. This
book is a captivating narrative including Johnson’s birth, the death of his teenage bride,
his supposed pact with the devil in return for his musical talent, and his ultimate
downfall. This book reads at a middle school level, but the content is more appropriate
for high school.

Lomax, Alan. The Land Where the Blues Began. New York: New, 2002. Print.
Alan Lomax spent decades doing the research that led to the publishing of this 560 page
book. This memoir covers Lomax’s travels in the American South during the with his
father, John Lomax, and folklorist Zora Neale Hurston in the 1930’s, his work with
African American sociologists in the 1940’s and his work on the 1980’s PBS film series on
the blues. It also includes interviews with famous blues musicians and 16 pages of
photos. It is definitely a more challenging text, but I want to include texts for all reading
levels and this book has so much interesting information in it, it should be edifying for
those who choose to read it.

O'Neal, Jim, and Singel Amy. Van. The Voice of the Blues: Classic Interviews from Living Blues
Magazine. New York: Routledge, 2002. Print.
This 427 page book is a compilation of interviews from the magazine “Living Blues.” I
would encourage students to focus on the interviews with T-Bone Walker, Muddy
Waters, and John Lee Hooker. The interviews range from 20 to 70 pages, and are
interesting to read because they are presented in a question and answer format. The
book also contains pictures of the musicians.

Orgill, Roxane. Shout, Sister, Shout!: Ten Girl Singers Who Shaped a Century. New York: Margaret
K. McElderry, 2001. Print.
This is a series of biographies of ten influential female musicians. This 148 page book
has biographies of Ma Rainey (known as the Mother of the Blues), and Bessie Smith (the
Empress of the Blues). The biographies are short (around 20 large-print pages) and easy
to read, and allow the reader to glimpse into the lives of female singers in the early 20th
century. Also included are interviews and photos of the singers.

Robertson, David. W.C. Handy: the Life and times of the Man Who Made the Blues. New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, 2009. Print.
This 304 page book is an account of the life of W.C. Handy, also known as the
“Godfather of the Blues.” Handy was a black blues musician who brought his music in to
the dance halls of white America. This well-written, factually accurate book brings
together everything from the beginning of the blues movement to its connections to
popular music. Although the reading level is more advanced, it offers a captivating story
in an easy to read style.
Online Texts:
Articles:

"Southern Mosaic: The 1939 Recording Expedition." American Memory from the Library of
Congress - Home Page. 25 Oct. 2007. Web. 31 May 2010.
<http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/lohtml/lorecexp.html>.
This is a 4 page summary of an amazing set of John and Ruby Lomax’s field notes from a
road trip that has given us insight in to the music of the rural south during the 1930’s.
This page contains many links to more information, as well as an mp3 field recording of
a blues singer. The format allows the reader to control how much information they get
as they read.

"The Blues . Blues Classroom . What Is the Blues?" PBS. Web. 31 May 2010.
<http://www.pbs.org/theblues/classroom/essaysblues.html>.
The PBS series "The Blues" article "What is the Blues?" is a short, narrative essay about
the first blues musicians. This article encapsulates the basics of the blues in an
accessible way. This would be a great introductory article for students that are not
familiar with the blues.
Interactive Website:

"The Blues . Blues Road Trip." PBS. 2003. Web. 29 May 2010.
<http://www.pbs.org/theblues/roadtrip.html>.
The Blues Road trip interactive map lets the user learn about the spread of blues music
north from the Mississippi Delta by clicking on a map of the United States and reading
short descriptions of blues music in that area. Being interactive, this tools allows
students to control what they read about and when. It also shows pictures relevant to
the content that they are reading.
Poetry and Lyrics:

Handy, W. C. "St. Louis Blues." Heptune Home Page. 5 Dec. 1998. Web. 31 May 2010.
<http://www.heptune.com/stlouisb.html>.
This website offers lyrics to St. Louis Blues by W.C. Handy, “the Godfather of the Blues.”
This is one of the most well-known early blues songs. There are several versions of the
lyrics on the page, including a version performed by Cab Calloway and a version
performed by Lena Horne.

Hughes, Langston. "The Weary Blues." The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes. Alfred A. Knopf,
1994. Poets.org - Poetry, Poems, Bios & More. The American Academy of Poets. Web. 30 May
2010. <http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15612>.
Langston Hughes was known for his blues poetry. In “The Weary Blues” the poet
describes his feelings and impressions as he listens to a blues singer play and sing one
night on Lenox Avenue. This is a short but powerful poem about the beauty of blues
music.
Radio show (also available online)

"Episode 1: The Origins of the Blues." The Year of the Blues. Public Radio International. Radio.
PBS series "The Blues" radio show from 2003, episode 1, "The Origins of the Blues"
includes information about the roots of the blues as well as interviews from
contemporary artists about how the blues influenced their music.
http://www.yearoftheblues.org/audio/radio/Episode1.asx
Audio

Johnson, Robert. Robert Johnson, the Complete Recordings. Sony BMG Music Entertainment,
1990. CD.
This is a complete collection of all 29 of Robert Johnson’s recordings. This will help
those who read his biography better understand his music.

Smith, Bessie. The Essential Bessie Smith. Sony Music Entertainment, Inc., 1997. CD.
Bessie Smith was one of the first influential blues singers and one of the most wellknown. This collection includes some of her most popular work, including the St. Louis
Blues and songs with Louis Armstrong.