Transatlantic Roots Music: Folk, Blues, and National Identities

by Jill Terry (Editor), Neil A. Wynn (Editor)

Overview

Essays that track identity and authenticity in blues and folk music that crossed the ocean With essays by Duck Baker, Robert H. Cataliotti, Ronald D. Cohen, John Hughes, Will Kaufman, Andrew Kellett, Erich Nunn, Christian O'Connell, Paul Oliver, David Sanjek, Roberta Freund Schwartz, Jill Terry, Brian Ward, and Neil A. Wynn Transatlantic Roots Music presents a collection of essays on the debates about origins, authenticity, and identity in folk and blues music. These essays originated in an international conference on the transatlantic paths of American roots music, out of which emerged common themes and questions of origins and authenticity in folk music, be it black or white, American or British. While the central theme of the collection is musical influences, issues of national, local, and racial identity are also recurring subjects. Were these identities invented, imagined, constructed by the performers, or by those who recorded the music for posterity? The book features a new essay on the blues by Paul Oliver alongside an essay on Oliver's seminal blues scholarship. There are also several essays on British blues and the links between performers and styles in the United States and Britain. And there are new essays on critical figures such as Alan Lomax and Woody Guthrie. This volume uniquely offers perspectives from both sides of the Atlantic on the interplay of influences in roots music and the debates about these subjects. The book draws on the work of eminent, established scholars and emerging, young academics who are already making a contribution to the field. Throughout, contributors offer the most recent scholarship available on key issues. Jill Terry, Worcester, United Kingdom, is principal lecturer and head of the division of English, journalism and media, and cultural studies for the Institute Of Humanities and Creative Arts at the University of Worcester. Neil A. Wynn, Cheltenham, United Kingdom, is professor of twentieth-century American history at the University of Gloucestershire. He is editor of Cross the Water Blues: African American Music in Europe (published by University Press of Mississippi), among others.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781617032882
Publisher:	University Press of Mississippi
Publication date:	07/02/2012
Series:	American Made Music Series
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Jill Terry is principal lecturer and head of the division of English, journalism and media, and cultural studies for the Institute of Humanities and Creative Arts at the University of Worcester (United Kingdom).


Neil A. Wynn is professor of twentieth-century American history at the University of Gloucestershire (United Kingdom). He is editor of Cross the Water Blues: African American Music in Europe (published by University Press of Mississippi), among other works.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction Jill Terry Neil A. Wynn ix

1 The Historical and Social Background of Transatlantic Roots Music Revivals Jill Terry Neil A. Wynn 3

2 "Early Morning Blues": The Early Years of the Transatlantic Connection Paul Oliver 20

3 Dreaming Up the Blues: Transatlantic Blues Scholarship in the 1950s Christian O'Connell 37

4 American Balladry and the Anxiety of Ancestry Erich Nunn 57

5 Wooday Guthrie at the Crossroads Will Kaufman 77

6 "It's Not British Music, It's American Music": Bob Dylan and Britain John Hughes 94

7 Alan Lomax: An American Ballad Hunter in Great Britain Ronald D. Cohen 119

8 Putting the Blues in British Blues Rock Roberta Freund Schwartz 138

9 That White Man, Burdon: The Animals, Race, and the American South in the British Blues Boom Brian Ward 153

10 Born in Chicago: The Impact of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band on the British Blues "Network," 1964-1970 Andrew Kellett 179

11 "When Somebody Take Your Number and use It": The 1960s, British Blues, and America's Racial Crossroads Robert H. Cataliotti 205

12 Groove Me: Dancing to the Discs of Northern Soul David Sanjek 227

13 Some Reflections on "Celtic" Music Duck Baker 246

Contributors 257

Index 263

Editorial Reviews

"Transatlantic Roots Music is a stimulating collection of thought-provoking essays by fourteen writers on a wide range of topics relating to issues of discovery, reception, and revival of various forms of folk—or 'roots'—music by audiences and performers in the U.S. and Britain. English blues scholar Paul Oliver offers a concise overview of the early years of the development of the British audience for American blues, a history in which he played no small part. Christian O'Donnell then offers, in turn, a clear-headed appraisal of Oliver's multi-faceted role in shaping conceptions of blues by white audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. John Hughes explores the impact that traditional English song had on the early work of Bob Dylan as a result of Dylan's brief visit to London in 1962. Guitarist Duck Baker concludes the volume with some thoughtful—some might say heretical—commentary on the use of the term 'Celtic' to describe the currently popular musical genre based on Irish and Scottish traditional music. Taken as a whole, the authors remind us that the business of musical exchange across the Atlantic is a longstanding—and ongoing—phenomenon, and offer a wealth of new insights on the process and its significance."

—Paul F. Wells, director emeritus, Center for Popular Music at Middle Tennessee State University

From the Publisher