If you don't have at least one book by Paul Oliver on your shelf, you're not serious about the blues.
Here's a link to a tribute to Paul published 14 years ago on his 70th birthday. There are brief tributes by a who's-who of blues scholars and a bibliography of Paul's blues writings. The man was incredibly prolific. I think that if you were to make a list of the 10 most important and influential books on the blues, Oliver would be the only person with multiple titles listed.
(On a personal note, even though I'm interested in architecture, every time I look at a Paul Oliver bibliography I'm a bit sad that he spent so much time writing about that subject. What I wouldn't give for a few more books as good as Blues Fell This Morning, Screening The Blues, and Songsters And Saints!)
(Edited to correct mistakes, as a fellow weenie has pointed out to me that while spell check is fine with words, it's not very good at numbers!)
