Book description
The Virgin Encyclopaedia of the Blues is a complete handbook of
information and opinion about the history of the most classically
simple, enduring and inspiring genre in the history of popular music.
All entries have been created from the massive database of The
Encyclopaedia of Popular Music, which has swiftly and firmly
established itself as the undisputed champion of contemporary music
reference books.
Brand new research ensures that the 1000 entries are bang up-to-date
and cover everyone - the musicians, bands, songwriters, producers and
record labels - who has made a significant impact on the development
of the blues. It brings together pioneers like Robert Johnson and
Blind Lemon Jefferson, the influence of Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon
on the blues boom of the 1960s, and the most recent blues resurgence
featuring Keb'Mo, Larry Garner and Jonny Lang.
As well as the giants of the blues, this encyclopaedia has the range
and depth to include performers who flew the blues flag during fallow
periods, the 1980s band Roomful of Blues for example, or acts like
Paul Butterfield, Chicken Shack, Stevie Ray Vaughan, who took the
music to a wider, whiter, audience. Some blues musicians, including
John Lee Hooker and Taj Mahal, seem to last forever. Others simply
defined the genre, like Lead Belly, Bessie Smith and Howlin' Wolf.
Whomever you remember or want to know more about, each entry gives
the essential elements - dates, career facts, discography and album
ratings - as well as a sense of context, striking a balance between
the extremes of the self-opinionated and the bland.
