Illinois Central Railroad, 3, 106
“I’m Ready” (Dixon), 77
Indiana, 88, 108, 110, 133
Indianapolis, 108, 133
Indianola, Miss., 25, 54, 58, 91–92
“It’s Hard Time” (Short), 149
“Jack o’ Diamonds” (Jefferson), 160
Jackson, Bessie. See Bogan, Lucille
Jackson, Bruce, 13
Jackson, Miss., 25, 106, 146
Jacobs, Little Walter, 172
James, Skip, 129, 146, 147
jazz, 64, 84–85, 99, 113, 115, 126–27, 130, 175, 189
Jefferson, Blind Lemon, 6, 19–20, 25, 27, 35, 49, 133–34, 137–38, 159–60
Jenkins, Hezekiah, 146–47
Jennings, Waylon, 197
Jim Crow: establishment of, 33, 45–46, 47–48, 57, 98, 198
Marxist analysis of, 14, 42–43
prison system of, 30, 36–41, 43. See also disfranchisement; lynching; segregation
“Jim Crow Blues” (Davenport), 103
“Joe Louis Blues” (Martin), 176
Johnson, Blind Willie, 122–24, 126–27
Johnson, Jack, 93, 177
Johnson, Lonnie, 6, 129, 145, 190
accompanying Peetie Wheatstraw, 132–33, 147
accompanying Tex Alger, 59
accompanying Victoria Spivey, 25
Johnson, Louise, 9, 84
Johnson, Robert, 13, 25, 52, 68, 108–9, 127, 132, 159
death of, 62–63
and devilment, 94–95, 131–32
guitar technique of, 53
and influence on Waters, 25, 170
Johnson, Tommy, 8, 71
Johnson, Willie. See Johnson, Blind Willie
Jones, Curtis, 106
Jones, LeRoi. See Baraka, Amiri
Jones, Lewis, 68
Jones Night Spot, 58
jook joints, 29, 58, 66, 75–76, 144
“Junior, A Jap’s Skull” (Blackwell), 190–91
Kansas, 97
Kansas Joe, 138–39
Keil, Charles, 10, 17, 77
King, B. B., 24, 25, 58, 69, 74–75, 129
on blues music, 10, 20–21, 54
in Memphis, 58–59, 91
on sharecropping, 47
Kizart, Lee, 76
“Kokomo Blues” (Arnold), 108, 159
Kolchin, Peter, 11–12
Ku Klux Klan, 110–11, 135
Kubik, Gerhard, 13
Lacy, Rube, 19–20, 54
“Last Monday” (Ledbetter), 38, 43
Laury, Booker, 52
Law, Don, 94, 108
Ledbetter, Huddie (Leadbelly), 50, 69, 74, 79, 167, 178, 192–93, 198
first appearance in New York City, 28–32, 71
life in Texas, 35–40
and Popular Front politics, 41–43, 182
and prison, 30, 36–37, 38–41, 109, 133–34
working with Lomaxes, 14, 26–27, 28–31, 41–43, 161, 183
youth in Louisiana, 33–34
Leland, Miss., 26, 141
Lemann, Nicholas, 45
“Let’s Have a New Deal” (Martin), 163, 176
Leuchtenburg, William, 153
Levine, Lawrence, 9, 11, 53–54
Lewis, Jerry Lee, 196
Lexington, Miss., 103, 119
Library of Congress, 41–42, 68, 160, 170–71
Lipscomb, Mance, 75
Little Milton. See Campbell, Little Milton
Litwack, Leon, 21, 49
Lomax, Alan, 59, 68, 82, 160–61, 183, 185, 190
on blues form, 52, 54, 63
and Popular Front, 14, 15, 27, 41
working with Muddy Waters, 24– 25, 170–71
Lomax, John, 160–61
on conservatism of black music, 12–14
working with Ledbetter, 27–28, 30–31, 41, 43
Louis, Joe, 93, 175–80
Louisiana, 26, 30, 34, 40–41, 137, 160–61
as birthplace of blues, 5
delta region of, 3
and disfranchisement, 33. See also New Orleans; Shreveport
“Louisiana Blues” (Waters), 26, 173
Louisville, 133
Love, Charles, 75
Love, Jasper, 162
Lower Mississippi Valley, 55, 94, 105–6, 170
flooding in, 134–37
geography of, 3, 97–98
during Great Depression, 144
politics in, 48–49, 143–44
socioeconomy of, 45, 68
lynching, 44, 49–50, 104, 125, 189
“Mademoiselle from Armentiers,” 121–22
“Mannish Boy” (Waters), 69–70
marijuana. See blues musicians and drug use
marine corps, 182, 184
Martin, Carl, 139, 145, 162–63, 176
Maxwell Street (Chicago), 172
May, Butler, “String Beans,” 7–8, 23
McClennan, Tommy, 88–90, 106
McCoy, Joe. See Kansas Joe McCulloch, Bill, 13
McFadden, Specks, 81, 88
McGhee, Brownie, 149
McMillen, Neil, 2, 22, 62, 64, 79, 117
“Me and My Captain,” 1, 60
Melrose, Lester, 88
Memphis, 51, 106, 136, 137, 171
blues scene in, 58
Handy’s career in, 61
King’s move to, 59, 91. See also Beale Street
“Memphis Blues” (Handy), 7, 8, 61, 72, 79
Memphis Jug Band, 71
Memphis Minnie, 108, 138–39
Memphis Slim, 44, 59, 108
Meridian, Miss., 86
Michigan, 100, 179. See also Detroit
“Midnight Special” (Ledbetter), 38, 41, 109
migration. See Great Migration
Miller, Rice (Aleck). See Williamson, Sonny Boy II
Millinder, Lucky, 189–90
Mississippi, 5, 25, 37, 51, 71, 75, 85, 98, 111, 119, 120, 125, 146, 185
migration from, 84, 86, 89–92, 100, 103, 105–6, 130, 171–73
politics in, 47–49, 61, 124. See also Delta, the
“Mississippi Heavy Water Blues” (Hicks), 138
Mississippi River, 55, 68, 135–40
Mississippi Sheiks, 25
Missouri, 5, 90, 100, 109, 120, 136. See also St. Louis
mobility. See under blues musicians
Montgomery, Isaiah, 105
Montgomery, Little Brother, 9, 26–29
Moore, Alice, 65
Moorhead, Miss., 99
Mooringsport, La., 33–34, 40
Morganfield, McKinley. See Waters, Muddy
Morton, Jelly Roll, 5, 69, 84, 130
Moss, Buddy, 149
Moton, Robert, 143
Mound Bayou, Miss., 105
Mounds Landing, Miss., 137
“Mr. Crump” (Handy), 61–62
“Mr. Hitler” (Ledbetter), 192–93
“Mr. Livinggood” (Wheatstraw), 129–30
Mt. Olive, Miss., 119
Mullen, Robert, 117
Murray, Albert, 19
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), 19, 57, 67, 104, 114, 153, 155, 180
National Recovery Administration (NRA), 156, 162
navy, 182, 184
Neff, Pat, 32, 39–40
Negro Songs of Protest (Gellert), 14
New Deal, 153–58, 162–67, 169, 196
“New Highway 51 Blues” (McClennan), 106
New Negro, 86, 92–93
New Orleans, 71, 84, 106, 187
flooding in, 136
racial violence in, 51, 56, 60
Storyville neighborhood of, 36, 58, 69
New York City, 49, 84, 98, 99, 110, 127, 176–77, 179, 189
Ledbetter’s move to, 28–32, 41, 71, 134
Popular Front in, 41, 182
recordings made in, 133, 158, 165, 166, 177–78. See also Harlem
Niebuhr, Reinhold, 155
Niles, Abbe, 179
Niles, John Jacob, 116, 121–22
Odum, Howard, 53, 100
Ohio, 100
Oliver, King, 25, 84
Oliver, Paul, 55, 148
on blues and accommodation, 12–13, 14
Oscher, Paul, 76
Pace, Henry, 67, 98
Palestine, Tex., 104
Palmer, Sylvester, 111
“The Panic is On” (Jenkins), 146, 147
Paramount Records, 9, 66, 95, 98, 146, 197
Patton, Charley, 20, 27, 53, 70, 98, 132, 196
and Flood of 1927, 26, 140–42
and recording career, 9, 84
“Pearl Harbor Blues” (Clayton), 188, 193
Pearson, Barry Lee, 13
Pee-Wee’s Saloon, 61
Percy, Leroy, 142
Percy, Will Alexander, 142
Perryman, Rufus. See Speckled Red
Pershing, John J., 120, 122
Peyton, Dave, 67
Plessy v. Ferguson, 33, 48
Poetry of the Blues (Charters), 12
Powdermaker, Hortense, 14, 92
“Preachin’ Blues” (House), 6, 66
Presley, Elvis, 8, 57, 196
prison blues, 31–32, 37–40, 43, 59
prison system. See under Jim Crow
Public Works Administration (PWA), 164–67
Pullum, Joe, 165
race records, 9, 19–20, 60–61, 129–31, 145, 191, 197. See also individual record labels
racial violence, 36, 51–52, 56, 60, 104, 110–11, 116, 179–80, 182, 184. See also lynching
racism. See disfranchisement; Jim Crow; lynching; racial violence; segregation
“Railroad Bill,” 77–78
Rainey, Ma (Gertrude), 5–6, 9, 70
Rainey, Memphis Ma (Lillie Mae Glover), 9, 70, 112
ramblin’. See blues musicians and mobility
“Rambling On My Mind” (R. Johnson), 52
Ramsey, Frederic, 12
Randolph, A. P., 180, 184
Reconstruction, 33, 45–47, 51, 124, 143, 198
“Red Cross Blues” (Davis), 159–60
“Red Cross Blues” (Roland), 158–62
“Red Cross Man” (Bogan), 158–59
Red River, 35, 36, 140
Red Summer (1919), 60, 111
religion. See blues and black Christians; devilment; voodoo
Republicans, 48, 144, 197
resistance in blues music, 14–17, 26, 40, 43–44, 57, 62, 79–80, 198–99. See also accommodation in blues music
“Rising High Water Blues” (Jefferson), 137–38
“Road Tramp Blues” (Wheatstraw), 147–48
Roark, James, 45
Rogers, Jimmy, 76, 172
Roland, Walter (Alabama Sam), 158–61, 165, 182
“Roosevelt and Hitler” (Ezell), 185–86
Roosevelt, Eleanor, 152–53
Roosevelt, Franklin, 162, 177
death of, 186–87, 198
and race issues, 151, 153, 164, 184
viewed by African Americans, 152–53, 165, 167, 174, 186–87, 188
Rorabaugh, W. J., 72–73, 76
Rosedale, Miss., 26, 141
San Antonio, Tex., 108, 165
Savage, Joe, 82–83
Schmeling, Max, 93, 175, 176–79
Scott, Miss., 85, 154
Scott, Sonny, 158–59, 166
Seals, Baby, 7–8, 23
segregation, 44, 47–48, 57. See also Jim Crow
Selective Service Act (1917), 118
Serhoff, Doug, 8
sharecropping, 45–47, 98, 169–70
effect of Great Depression on, 144, 154–55
“She Got Jordan River in Her Hips” (Short), 68–69
Shines, Johnny, 8
on pleasing the audience, 31
on Robert Johnson, 53, 68, 94
Short, J. D., 54–55, 68–69, 149–50
“Shorty George” (Ledbetter), 31–32, 43, 109, 161
Shreveport, 29, 34, 58, 69, 89, 90
Singing Soldiers (Niles), 121
“Sinking Sun Blues” (Wheatstraw), 128, 131
Sitkoff, Harvard, 145
“Sittin’ On Top of the World,” 25, 167
Slavery: historiography of, 11–12
and oral tradition, 4–5, 28, 51, 53–55
and spirituals, 96–97
“Sloppy Drunk Blues” (Williamson), 70
Smith, Bessie, 1, 6, 81, 98
Smith, Lucius, 72
Smith, Mamie, 8, 60, 73, 79, 81, 160
“Soldier Man Blues” (anonymous), 116, 122
“Soldier Man Blues” (Washington), 191
“Southern Blues” (Broonzy), 99
Spand, Charlie, 146
Spann, Otis, 172
Speckled Red, 161
Spencer, Jon, 13, 65
Spirituals and the Blues (Cone), 15
Spivey, Victoria, 25
St. Bernard Parish, La., 136
St. Louis, 90–91, 107, 110, 111, 133, 149–50, 170
“St. Louis Blues” (Handy), 7, 51, 81–82, 83
Stackhouse, Houston, 8
Stark, Will, 46–47
Still, William Grant, 93
Stimson, Henry, 182
Stomping the Blues (Murray), 19
Stovall Plantation, 24, 130, 169–71, 173
Strange Career of Jim Crow (Woodward), 46
“Strange Fruit” (Holiday), 49
String Beans. See May, Butler, “String Beans”
Sugarland Penitentiary, 37–40
Sumner, Miss., 26, 140
“sundown towns,” 111, 112
“Sweet Home Chicago” (R. Johnson), 108–9, 159
Sykes, Roosevelt, 113, 169, 181, 184
syncopation, 4–5, 28
“Take a Whiff on Me,” 31, 71–72
Tampa Red, 25, 106, 108, 146, 148
Tchula, Miss., 75
Tennessee, 3, 55, 137. See also Memphis
“Tennessee Peaches” (Wheatstraw), 69, 140
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), 156
Texas, 30, 35–36, 104, 116, 120, 122, 138, 160. See also Deep Ellum; San Antonio; Sugarland
Thomas, James, 75–76
Thomas, Rufus, 58
Thornton, Big Mama, 196
Titon, Jeff Todd, 12–13, 16, 20
“Training Camp Blues” (Sykes), 169, 181
“Traveling Riverside Blues” (R. Johnson), 68
Trotter, William Monroe, 118
Tunica Co., Miss., 37
Tutwiler, Miss., 7, 46, 61, 198
Twain, Mark, 136
“Uncle Sam Called the Roll” (Gaither), 181
“Uncle Sam Says” (J. White), 182–83
“Unemployment Stomp” (Broonzy), 180
Vardaman, James K., 48, 61, 124
vaudeville circuit. See chitlin’ circuit
Vicksburg, Miss., 51, 58, 98, 120, 137
Victor Military Band, 8
violence. See blues musicians and violence; lynching; racial violence
Vocalion, 62, 94, 197
voodoo, 65, 66
voting rights, 164. See also disfranchisement
Wald, Elijah, 3, 8–9, 13, 27
Walker, Ortiz, 63
Walker, T-Bone, 23
“Walking Blues,” 25, 66, 170
“Wang Dang Doodle” (Howlin’ Wolf), 74
“Wartime Blues” (Williamson), 181
Washboard Sam, 69, 156–58
Washington, Booker T., 48, 87, 97, 105, 130
Washington, D.C., 21, 42, 117, 134–35, 150
Washington, Inez, 191
Waters, Muddy, 45, 69–70, 76, 77, 127, 129, 196
and Alan Lomax, 23–25, 170–73
and Aristocrat Records, 172–73
life in Chicago, 172–74
life in Mississippi, 57–58, 169–70
WDIA, 8, 58
“We Got to Win” (Williamson), 182
“We Sure Got Hard Times Now” (Hicks), 148
Weldon, Casey Bill, 129, 132, 166
“Welfare Store Blues” (Williamson), 128, 161–62
“We’re Gonna Have to Slap the Dirty Little Jap” (Millinder), 189–90
West Africa, 1, 4–5, 28, 52–54, 65
“What More Can a Man Do?” (Wheatstraw), 133
Wheatstraw, Peetie, 73–74, 96, 109–10, 129–32, 196, 198
depression and New Deal songs by, 147–48, 149–50, 166–67
musical style of, 128–29, 132–34
origins in Cotton Plant, Ark., 109, 131, 132
sexual song by, 69, 139–40
“When I Get My Bonus” (Wheatstraw), 167
“When the Levee Breaks” (Kansas Joe), 138–39
“When the War Was On” (W. Johnson), 122–24, 127
“Whiskey Blues,” 70
White, Bukka, 45, 46, 58, 59, 69, 73, 90–91
White, Josh, 182–83
White, Newman, 12, 13
“Whoa, Back, Buck” (Ledbetter), 27, 31
Williams, Big Joe, 68, 106, 108, 129, 150
Williams v. Mississippi, 48
Williamson, Joel, 65,
Williamson, Sonny Boy (John Lee), 9, 70, 108, 128, 161–62, 172, 180–81, 182, 184, 196
Williamson, Sonny Boy II (Rice Miller), 9
Wilson, August, 1, 199
Wilson, Woodrow, 116, 117–18, 120, 122–23, 125–26
Wisconsin. See Grafton, Wisc. WLAC, 8
Woodson, Carter, 87
Woodward, C. Vann, 46
Woofter, T. J., 100
Work, John, 68, 170
“Working On the Project” (Wheatstraw), 166
Works Progress Administration (WPA), 164–66
World War I, 198
and black volunteerism, 118
and Great Migration, 92, 102
racial violence during, 36, 104. See also African Americans during World War I
World War II, 174–75, 179–82, 184–87, 195, 198. See also African Americans during World War II; blues and anti-Hitler songs; blues and anti-Japanese songs
Wright, Gavin, 47
Wright, Richard, 3, 17, 27, 41, 56, 65, 92, 128, 147, 179, 195
Yazoo, Miss., 88
Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad, 98
“Yellow Dog Blues” (Handy), 7, 98
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