University of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago, 1995, 379 pages.
Reviews:
C.M. Weisenberg - Choice:
"{This} is not only a major compilation of existing information but will be a significant resource for future studies. . . . Although the blues is also performed as jazz and popular music, Bastin maintains his essential focus {of blues as folk music} throughout the book. . . . As an Englishman he may come to the subject without some of the baggage an American might have to carry. He shows an awareness of the relationship race had on this music. Bastin is one of several Englishmen who have made important contributions to our understanding of American folk blues. . . . There are about two dozen pages of photographs, a general index, an index of tunes, and plenty of footnotes.
From Library Journal:
"English folklorist Bruce Bastin has written a history of the blues tradition in the Southern Atlantic states. Drawing on extensive interviews and primary sources, he focuses more on the performers than on the music. After describing the sociocultural context of the tradition, the author provides biographical details of its major practioners, mentioning in passing every performer he has been able to identify. The wealth of detail provided is impressive, and serious folklore collections will want this volume. The author's tendency to catalog information, however, leads to a lack of narrative cohesion; the general reader will find this slow going." Bruce Hulse, Brown Univ. Lib., Providence
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