Topic: Blue Smoke - The Recorded Journey of Big Bill Broonzy

[Stuart]

Via the PWBG:

http://www.lsu.edu/lsupress/bookPages/9780807137208.html

http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Smoke-Recorded-Journey-Broonzy/dp/0807137200/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1285684943&sr=1-1

[Bunker Hill]

In all probability it is a rework of this:

House, Roger. 'Keys to the Highway': William ?Big Bill? Broonzy and the Chicago Blues in the Era of the Great Migration. Ph.D. Dissertation, Boston University, 1999. 247 pp.

Poor old Bob Reisman, who is soon to see publication of his years of BBB research, is no doubt spitting blood.

Such is life.

[TonyGilroy]

I ordered it from Amazon assuming it was the anticipated new biography.

Oh well.

[Bunker Hill]

I ordered it from Amazon assuming it was the anticipated new biography.

I wonder how many others may make the same assumption? Is it too late to cancel the order or are you going to let it stand and give us the lowdown on it at some later time? 

[dj]

I've ordered it too.  One can never have enough books!  I'll certainly post my thoughts after reading it.

[Bunker Hill]

I've ordered it too.  One can never have enough books!  I'll certainly post my thoughts after reading it.

Good man.

The "other" biography is entitled "I Feel So Good: The Life and Times of Big Bill Broonzy"

[TonyGilroy]

I ordered it from Amazon assuming it was the anticipated new biography.

I wonder how many others may make the same assumption? Is it too late to cancel the order or are you going to let it stand and give us the lowdown on it at some later time? 

I'm with DJ. It'll join the 100+ books waiting to be read.

My wife will have a word when it arrives.

[dj]

I got my copy today.  155 pages of text, plus index, unannotated bibliography, discography/sessionography, and a list of "recordings consulted".  Lightly illustrated.

At first glance, it looks like a short biography of Broonzy amplified by appropriate quotes from his and others' lyrics.  It doesn't look bad, but it's not the deep, critical biography that I hope Reisman's book to be.  More to follow once I've had time to read.

In all probability it is a rework of this:

House, Roger. 'Keys to the Highway': William ?Big Bill? Broonzy and the Chicago Blues in the Era of the Great Migration. Ph.D. Dissertation, Boston University, 1999. 247 pp.

You're exactly right about that:  "This book began many years ago as part of my doctoral research..." 

   

[Bunker Hill]

For those unaware of the discussion three years back concerning the Bob Riesman biography see

http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?amp;Itemid=60&topic=3212.0

[Bunker Hill]

The "other" biography is entitled "I Feel So Good: The Life and Times of Big Bill Broonzy"

It seems to have a publication date of May next year see http://www.press.uchicago.edu/presssite/metadata.epl?mode=bio&isbn=9780226717456

[Slack]

Just received this email from Roger House.

--------------------
Dear Sir or Madam,

I?m pleased to announce the publication of my book on the legendary Chicago bluesman Big Bill Broonzy.

Blue Smoke: the Recorded Journey of Big Bill Broonzy was released by Louisiana State University Press in October. It is a short biography that uses song and story to place Broonzy in the context of African American history.

I?d like to share my website with you and your readers for more information. The address is www.bluesmokestory.com.

Please pass the word.

Yours truly,

Roger House

[Stuart]

I ordered a copy from Amazon and finished it a couple of weeks ago. It's definitely worth reading. I'll echo what DJ said about it not being a deep, critical biography. However, it certainly brings out the social and historical context in which Big Bill lived his life and places him within that context. And it serves as an important reminder that as a whole person--not just the name on a record label--Big Bill live his life beyond the limited context of the recording studio.

[RobBob]

I am slogging through it each evening at the end of the day.  Mr. House does much, so far, to detail the plight of the Black American.  Some of us may be acutely aware of this situation all ready.  I am only part way in and he says nothing about the plight that has not all ready been said in other places.  Although things have changed a great deal they still have a ways to go.   He does layout several instances where the truth about Big Bill is still shaded in ambiguity but takes the time to look at it from a couple angles.  He does not really settle something things, just states that there are contradictory statements out there.

I will update after more slogging. 

[jharris]

I interviewed the author on my show about a month ago. Here's a link to the playlist/show notes: http://sundayblues.org/archives/2765

At the bottom of the post is a link to listen to the interview segment.

[RobBob]

I have to say after finishing this book that it is a worthwhile read but is not really about Big Bill as much as it chronicles his times.  Details of his life are scant while insights into the machinations of his world are rich.  It seems nothing has changed much since then.

[dj]

This is an interesting book, and not what I'd expected it to be.  I've been meaning to say a bit more about this book for a while, but have not until now had the chance.

Blue Smoke: The recorded Journey Of Big Bill Broonzy is a biography of Big Bill Broonzy, but it is not a deep critical biography based on original research, nor is it, as one might be led to believe by the subtitle, a critical look at the whole of Broonzy's recordings.  Roger House, in his note to Slack, says that the book "uses song and story to place Broonzy in the context of African American history", which is a fair enough assessment.  Because House's source for the biographical details of Broonzy's life is primarily Broonzy's autobiography, Big Bill Blues, and various interviews that Broonzy gave during his life, "story" is a particularly apt term, as Broonzy was not the most factual or consistent of informants.  Because House's emphasis is on Broonzy in the context of African American culture and history, he has not done original research to tease out the hard facts of Broonzy's life before he came to the attention of a white audience, though he has done a good job of bringing together the facts from the existing literature on Broonzy.

Blue Smoke follows Big Bill Broonzy's life chronologically rather than thematically, so it is structured like a conventional biography.  As he details Broonzy's life, House intersperses comments on how Broonzy's life reflected or differed from contemporary African American culture, and, when possible, amplifies these comments with quotes from song lyrics by Broonzy or his associates or, occasionally, by unrelated artists.  The lyric quotes are generally one verse rather than an entire song.

House's approach to integrating Broonzy's life and music with an overview of African American culture works best for Broonzy's early life and later years, when details of his biography are fairly plentiful.  During the chapters that deal with Broonzy's life as a race recording star in Chicago, there is little biographical information available, and one loses sight of Broonzy as the chapters focus on general African American history of the period.

This brings up my one complaint about the book.  House's chapters covering Broonzy's years as a recording star cover much the same material as Guido Van Rijn's Roosevelt's Blues, but they are not nearly as compelling as Van Rijn's book.  I think this is partly because House's focus on Broonzy limits his coverage of topics that Broonzy never touched on in his lyrics.  But it's also that Van Rijn always quotes complete song lyrics while House never does.  The inclusion of complete song lyrics in Roosevelt's Blues gives a much more nuanced picture of the meaning of an artist's lyrics.  At 155 pages of text, and 255 pages total, House certainly had room to quote complete song lyrics, and his book would have been the better for it.

In sum, if you're interested in an in-depth treatment of Big Bill Broonzy's life, or of a discussion of the body of music that he produced, this is not the book you're looking for.  But taken for what the author intended, it's a worthwhile read.        

[RobBob]

I believe House used Big Bill as a vehicle to make sociological observations about that time in history.  Broonzy commented just enough on the times to be useful for this purpose.  The lack or research into Broonzy life is expressed in the "if then" type analysis that says that Bill says this but other factors point to that.  So no new rocks are over turned and no new insights are reached.  It would make one hell of an interesting American Studies read for a college class though.