Topic: McTell Book

[Bunker Hill]

http://handmemytravelinshoes.blogspot.com/

Apparently still no takers to publish a U.S. edition...

[uncle bud]

http://handmemytravelinshoes.blogspot.com/

Apparently still no takers to publish a U.S. edition...

What an embarrassment. One of the best-written books on the blues in years, about one of the best bluesmen ever, and no US publisher. Yet someone feels it worthwhile to publish a paperback edition of the Heroin Diaries of Nikki Sixx (or take your pick from the music section at amazon...)

[Bunker Hill]

Apparently still no takers to publish a U.S. edition...

What an embarrassment. One of the best-written books on the blues in years, about one of the best bluesmen ever, and no US publisher. Yet someone feels it worthwhile to publish a paperback edition of the Heroin Diaries of Nikki Sixx (or take your pick from the music section at amazon...)

Crazy situation, isn't it? Perhaps that?s what happens when there?s no Robert Johnson connection. Maybe Michael should get Bob Dylan to endorse it over there!

[oddenda]

And STILL no US publisher - OUP offered a pittance, so I've been told. Hard to live on one of those! And so it goes.

Peter B.

[doctorpep]

Dylan would definitely endorse it. The problem is that Dylan's agents and representatives are many, and each get 10,000 e-mails and letters a day. That's just my assessment of the situation.

[oddenda]

Campbelltonians -

I state my being a "source" for the book up front and that I was given a pb copy by the author as "Thanks".

This is probably not the book that serious blues anoraks would have wanted, but then it would have been an awfully slim volume! Gray has folded many "stories" into one: McTier (sic) family history, the US Civil War, lynching in GA, GA county histories, race relations in GA, Gray's stories of following leads (successful or not), Atlanta history, a.o. ... and interweaving into those threads, the life story of William Samuel McTell (as best as can be done from this point in time). All the stories unfold into Willie's - before and after - in a well written whole that held this reader's attention and kept him up WAY past his bed time! Gray has done his homework and it shows. I could find nothing but little niggley bits to bring to his attention!

A fascinating story of one who cannot be romanticized in quite the same way as others have been; Willie McTell was a professional musician proud of his work who managed to succeed in some fashion and support he and his wife for most of his life; he recorded in the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s... not all commercial sessions. Quite an accomplishment for a blind Black man during the pre-civil rights decades of the US, not to mention The Great Depression. One seriously successful busker with a broad songster repertoire who also happened to be one hell of a blues singer and guitarist, not to mention his church songs and singing. I always said that if you went up to Willie at The Blue Lantern on Ponce de Leon, gave him a quarter, and asked for "The Beer Barrel Polka"... he'd do it for you! A well-liked Black man (by White and Black) who was as independent and "free"as possible at that point in time.

He is the one old muso I wish I had been able to meet - both his music and his personality (from what I gleaned in my decade of field work) I find admirable. I think that having a conversation with McTell would have been wonderful. I'm sure that other bits of information will show up over time, but they will not alter the fact that this is one fine read that I can recommend highly.

yrs,
     Peter B.

[oddenda]

Michael tells me that he has not yet given up on getting a US publisher... that'd be nice! Stranger things than that have happened in this world!! It's worth risking ten quid though!!

Peter B.

[oddenda]

Having received my copy from the author (he interviewed me a few times for the book), I must say that it has been a compelling read. This is WAY more than "the Willie McTell story" - there is geneology, national and local history, social history, travelogue, "on the trail" stories, a.o. all folded into one another. Maybe not what the blues anoraks may have had in mind, but theirs would have been a pamphlet! Not that there a lack of "story" on Willie, just that it's all contextualized in deep and wide ways that add much to the reader's understanding. Face it, folks, we're not poor, Black, blind, and living in the segregated South in the two middle quarters of the past century - we'll never REALLY know. Done by an outsider with writing talent (similarly to SPINNING BLUES INTO GOLD, journalist Nadine Cohodas' excellent book on Chess Records), this is a good book... as they say, I had a hard time putting it down!

Peter B.

[doctorpep]

The book was remarkably researched. You're right about the story of McTell as a Blues singer and guitarist being more like a pamphlet than a book. I'm glad that his life and his recordings were really put into context, resulting in an epic book, and not a mere pamphlet.

[VSOP]

This book can be purchased for $10 from Amazon UK's used dealers. There's no excuse for us Americans to whine that's too expensive, or unobtainable.

And yes, as an American I'm embarrassed this has no US publisher. Particularly since both commercial and academic presses here crank out tons of books far less interesting and important than this. There's no excuse.

[VSOP]

***UPDATE***

Gray's website now says that the book will be published in the USA Sept. 2009.
 

[Rivers]

Yay, finally 

[Bunker Hill]

***UPDATE***
Gray's website now says that the book will be published in the USA Sept. 2009.

Not bad, only two years after the event, see original press release (click to enlarge).

[attachment deleted by admin]

[VSOP]

Received book today. Looks good, though the lack of a glossy photo section is disappointing.

One caveat for Americans: purchasing through Amazon.co.uk will probably cause your bank account to be temporarily frozen. The reason for this, I was told, is that a lot of credit card fraud originates from there.

So you may just want to wait for the US edition.

[natterjack]

One caveat for Americans: purchasing through Amazon.co.uk will probably cause your bank account to be temporarily frozen. The reason for this, I was told, is that a lot of credit card fraud originates from there.

That's what they tell us when we buy from Amazon.com!