Recommended Books
Here are Our Recommendations of Recommended Books and Recommended Authors we think may interest fellow blues fans. We will be adding more titles over time. If you come across a book or author you think should be on this list, please Contact Us or leave a message in the form at the bottom of this page.
Chris Albertson
- Bessie – this is the best biography of Bessie Smith that we have read.
John M. Barry
- Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1917 and How It Changed America by John M. Barry – this is an excellent book about the 1927 Missisippi River flood which spawned such blues classics as When The Levee Breaks by Memphis Minnie (cover by Led Zeppelin) and High Water Everywhere by Charley Patton
Daniel Beaumont
- Preachin’ The Blues: The Life & Times of Son House – this is best biography of Son House that we have read so far.
- Record Makers and Breakers – Voices of the Independent Rock N’ Roll Pioneers
- Rhythm And Blues In New Orleans
- King of the Queen City: The Story of King Records – an excellent history of King Records, a very influential indie label based in Cincinnati, Ohio
Ted Gioia
- Delta Blues: The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Music by Ted Gioia
Robert Gordon
- Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion
- Can’t Be Satisfied: The Life and Times of Muddy Waters
W.C. Handy
Rick Kennedy
- Little Labels – Big Sound: Small Record Companies and the Rise of American Music (with Randy McNutt) – a short but very informative history of 10 small labels which had a major influence on American music, including Sun Records, Delmark Records, Paramount Records, Gennett Records, Ace Records…
- The Chitlin’ Circuit and the Road To Rock n’ Roll
- Beale Street Dynasty
- Brother Robert: Growing Up With Robert Johnson, with Annye E. Anderson
Here’s a video of Recommended Author Preston Lauterbach discussing his book The Chitlin’ Circuit and the Road To Rock n’ Roll
- Crossroads: How The Blues Shaped Rock n’ Roll (And Rock Saved The Blues) – a very interesting book on how the blues influenced rock and how rock, in turn, provided a much wider audience for the blues
Robert Palmer
James Segrest and Mark Hoffman
- Moanin’ At Midnight: The Life and Times of Howling Wolf – this is the best biography of Howlin’ Wolf that we have read.
Hampton Sides
- Hellhound on His Trail – this is the best book we have read about the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
- Alan Lomax: The Man Who Recorded The World by John Szwed. This is very good biography of Alan Lomax and a history of his work.
Elijah Wald
Bill Wyman
- Bill Wyman’s Blues Odyssey – this is an excellent history of the blues by the former bass player of the Rolling Stones. There was a documentary made to accompany the book. We have included the documentary on our Recommended Documentaries About The Blues page.
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