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Academic writing on the Blues?

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Doug:
Hi all...

I know that in recent years Blues is gaining more recognition as a true art form worthy of scholarly analysis, and there has been a bit of a resurgence of stuff written about the blues.

I'm considering doing an academic paper on the portrayal of Jesus in Reverend Gary Davis songs, and I'm wondering if there would be enough secondary sources to write about the topic.  I know there's a wealth of recordings by him, and I have no question that there would be enough material to do an interesting analysis.  And there's some popular stuff about him.... but is there anything um... academically respectable?  I'm assuming there's not going to be anything directly related, but am wondering if there are any journal articles, etc. on Reverend Gary Davis, or on pre-war blues and/or the blues revival.

I'm figuring if anyone would know, Weenie Campbell would...

Doug

Doug:
On a related topic, has anyone checked out Robert Tilling's book "Oh, what a beautiful city : a tribute to the Reverend Gary Davis (1896-1972) :gospel, blues, and ragtime"?  Is it worth getting or seeing?

I noticed that Catfish Keith offers it directly from the author (at $40 US) on his website at
http://www.catfishkeith.com/revdavisbookpage.htm

Anyone explored the book yet?

Doug

uncle bud:
There's this:

The Rise of Gospel Blues
The Music of Thomas Andrew Dorsey in the Urban Church
Michael W. Harris

http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/HistoryAmerican/AfricanAmerican/?ci=0195090578&view=usa

I don't know if it has material on RGD, but getting a hold of it and checking the bibliography would no doubt give you a line on some sources.

While it doesn't have much on RGD, I would think that Paul Oliver's Songsters and Saints would be a valuable resource for anyone working in this area. While his academic work is in architecture, his blues writing would fall into the academic sphere IMO.

And Bruce Bastin's Red River Blues would have essential material on RGD. Also pretty scholarly stuff IMO.

frankie:

--- Quote from: Doug on February 02, 2006, 08:00:39 AM ---On a related topic, has anyone checked out Robert Tilling's book "Oh, what a beautiful city : a tribute to the Reverend Gary Davis (1896-1972) :gospel, blues, and ragtime"?  Is it worth getting or seeing?

--- End quote ---

I've had it for a few years - there are a lot of stories, something of a discography which was probably complete at the time it was published, some historical background.  Lots of pictures...  will it tell you anything you don't already know if you've read Red River Blues?  Not necessarily.  It's nice to thumb through it now and then, though.  There are worse ways to spend $40.

Not a lot has been written about Rev. Davis' relationship to the church - even descriptions of his music tend to gloss over his religious convictions in favor of pointing out the relationships to secular music.

Bunker Hill:

--- Quote from: frankie on February 02, 2006, 08:47:30 AM ---I've had it for a few years - there are a lot of stories, something of a discography which was probably complete at the time it was published, some historical background.  Lots of pictures...  will it tell you anything you don't already know if you've read Red River Blues?  Not necessarily.  It's nice to thumb through it now and then, though.  There are worse ways to spend $40.

--- End quote ---
Here follows a review from Blues & Rhythm 78 (April 1993) from an era when they used highly opinionated contributors...

OH! WHAT A BEAUTIFUL CITY A Tribute To Rev. Gary Davis 1896-1972
Robert Tilling (Compiler) Paul Mill Press, Jersey, 1992, Paperback, 124 pps, illus. ?18

   Like most who hold an obsession with a particular artist, Bob Tilling has never been content to ?publish and be damned?, but has preferred to wait until the ingredients of his book has done right by his particular preoccupation, namely Rev. Gary Davis.
  Which is very laudable but over a twenty-five year period events can overtake such sentiments and, whilst not totally consigning the endeavour to an almost ran, events can certainly cause a damp squib. In Tilling?s case the ?event? that finally overtook his toil was Bruce Bastin's illuminating chapter on Davis in his ?Red River Blues? (Macmillan, 1986). Bastin's research into Davis, in particular Davis? time in North Carolina and his influence upon other Carolina bluesmen, really left little new for any subsequent biography to say. I suspect that Tilling, fully aware of this, radically reviewed his original approach to the book.
   Two decades on, what we get is not the promised standard biography, but an A4, glossy, coffee table ?kaleidoscope of images? (to quote from Paul Oliver's perceptive and enlightening introduction). Rotating around a host of black and white photographs (spanning 1952 to 1972) the reader is presented with a biographical chronology, colourful anecdotes from fellow musicians and record producers (John Townley?s recollections are fascinating), concert reviews (favourable and otherwise), selected record reviews, obituaries and a discography. This inventive approach brings to the page a vividness of character that standard format biographies can often fail to achieve. Thus, via Tilling, we learn from others that Gary Davis was by turns a switch-blade-carrying street musician, a compassionate man of God (braving a white?s only hospital ward to preach over the dying Woody Guthrie) as well as a guitarist with the ability to ?teach a slug to use silverware? (to quote a former pupil of Davis). The all pervasive impression created by Tilling with his use of this material is that, although the book is about a guitar playing gospel singer whose name happens be Gary Davis, it is the story of a ?universal human being? (to paraphrase Buffy St. Marie) for whom the word ?humility? was probably invented.
  This self-published labour of love has been a longtime in preparation and, should ?18 seem a trifle expensive for a mere 124 pages, all I can say is that if 25 years of my life had been devoted to such a task I'd regard it as cheap at half the price. As should you all. Alan Balfour

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