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Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Blues History
Review: Bruce Bastin is probably the leading expert on the blues styles of the East Coast of America, and this book is a superb analysis of the history of blues in a range of regional centres. It features detailed biographies of such seminal bluesmen as Willie McTell, Blind Blake, Pink Anderson, Gary Davis and Blind Boy Fuller, as well as much information about lesser known contemporaries such as Curley Weaver, Peg Leg Sam and Baby Tate. Bastin draws on a great deal of field research he conducted in the 1960s and 1970s, and has a lot to say about the social and economic context of the blues, the development of regional styles, the role of medicine shows, the role of field recordings and the impact of white businessmen such as J.B. Long on the recording careers of bluesmen. This is a well written and fascinating book which made me repeatedly go to my CD collection (or expand it further). It is a model of blues research. Anyone with an interest in east coast blues in general and the piedmont style in particular should not hesitate to buy this book. Strongly recommended.
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