Beyond the Crossroads: The Devil and the Blues Tradition PDF
Preview Beyond the Crossroads: The Devil and the Blues Tradition
Beyond the Crossroads Gussow_Beyond_FINAL PGS i New DirectioNs iN southerN stuDies Editor Charles Reagan Wilson Editorial Advisory Board Robert Brinkmeyer Ted Ownby Thomas Holt Tom Rankin Anne Goodwyn Jones Jon Michael Spencer Alfred J. Lopez Allen Tullos Charles Marsh Patricia Yaeger This series is devoted to opening new lines of analysis of the American South and to becoming a site for redefining southern studies, encouraging new interpretations of the region’s past and present. The series publishes works on the twentieth century that address the cultural dimensions of subjects such as literature, language, music, art, folklife, documentary studies, race relations, ethnicity, gender, social class, religion, and the environment. Gussow_Beyond_FINAL PGS ii The D evil & the Blues Tradition Adam Gussow The University of North Carolina Press chapel hill Gussow_Beyond_FINAL PGS iii © 2017 Adam Gussow All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America Designed and set in Minion by Rebecca Evans The University of North Carolina Press has been a member of the Green Press Initiative since 2003. Cover illustration inspired by a still from the film Crossroads, directed by Walter Hill (1986). Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Gussow, Adam, author. Title: Beyond the crossroads : the devil and the blues tradition / Adam Gussow. Other titles: New directions in southern studies. Description: Chapel Hill : The University of North Carolina Press, [2017] Series: New directions in southern studies | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: lccN 2017002264 | isBN 9781469633657 (cloth : alk. paper) | isBN 9781469633664 (pbk : alk. paper) | isBN 9781469633671 (ebook) Subjects: lcsh: Blues (Music)—Southern States—History and criticism. | Blues (Music)—Religious aspects. | Devil in music. | Johnson, Robert, 1911–1938. Classification: lcc Ml3521 .G94 2017 | DDc 781.6430976—dc23 lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017002264 Gussow_Beyond_FINAL PGS iv The blues is nothing but the devil. —JaMes “soN” thoMas Gussow_Beyond_FINAL PGS v This page intentionally left blank Contents iNtroDuctioN 1 1 heaveN aND hell parties 17 Southern Religion and the Devil’s Music 2 solD it to the De vil 74 The Great Migration, Lost Generations, and the Perils of the Urban Dance Hall 3 i’M GoiNG to Marry the Devil’s DauGhter 107 Blues Tricksters Signifying on Jim Crow 4 the Devil’s GoNNa Get you 154 Blues Romance and the Paradoxes of Black Freedom 5 selliNG it at the crossroaDs 193 The Lives and Legacies of Robert Johnson i Playing for the Haints: Ike’s Protégé and Crossroads Folklore 197 ii I Got a Big White Fella from Memphis Made a Deal with Me: Black Men, White Boys, and the Anxieties of Blues Postmodernity in Walter Hill’s Crossroads 231 iii Local and Private Legislation: Branding the Crossroads in Clarksdale, Mississippi 255 coNclusioN 304 Acknowledgments 323 Appendix Devil- Blues Recordings and Selected Sermons, 1924–2015 327 Notes 337 Bibliography 363 Song Credits 389 Index 391 Gussow_Beyond_FINAL PGS vii This page intentionally left blank Illustrations Installing the guitars at Clarksdale’s crossroads 256 Abe’s Bar- B-Q signs at the crossroads 261 The old crossroads 268 Maps of Clarkdale from 1918 and 1938 272 Bronze plaque at the crossroads 279 Vic Barbieri with crossroads scale model 294 Vic Barbieri at the crossroads 302 Gussow_Beyond_FINAL PGS ix
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