Chasin' That Devil's Music, Searching for the Blues Paperback – January 1, 1998

Wardlow paints a vivid picture of what it was like for him as a young man seeking out the "lost" blues recordings of the Mississippi Delta. Readers are introduced to a variety of characters who, each in their own way, helped keep this classic music alive for the next generation to discover. It includes a CD of some of Wardlow's discoveries and that alone is worth the price of the book. Highly recommended for lovers of the blues or music history in general.

Was elated to learn of this book & was very interested in a bit of history, not only of Robert Johnson, but a bit of family history since H. C. Speir was my father's uncle.

I use this as a skim through bathroom book. A lot of the style of writing in this book is of a documentary style. And not like the Spinal Tap variety. Some parts are just not captivating for my desire. However it is well done and very much a good look at the struggles some went through to track down pioneers of blues music.

Great book to enhance anyones knowledge on the legend Robert Johnson. For those interested in music and it's history and for musicians too.

Chasin' That Devil Music will interest hard-core devotees and scholars of rural blues, even if its narrow focus will occasionally frustrate and exasperate them. Those of us who love American roots music owe Gayle Dean Wardlow a huge debt of gratitude for the many years he has devoted to the search for the the human beings behind those scratchy, classic 1920s/1930s Mississippi blues recordings. This book puts between covers a number of articles, most of them fairly short, Wardlow has published in blues and record-collector periodicals since the 1960s. It's fat with detail and minutia of varying degrees of interest, and here and there it stops to debunk some hoary blues legend. It contains a wealth of terrific photographs, and a splendid CD accompanies it. That's the good news. The bad news is that nothing especially profound or engaging is going on here. Wardlow treats the musicians as if they existed in a vacuum except when they recorded, played, or interacted with one another. The reader longs for some effort to put these talented men (there are few women here) into a broader cultural context, or for some attempt to relate rural blues to the other varieties of rural Southern folk music, white as well as black, that helped to create and shape it. Then, again, maybe it isn't fair to criticize an author for not writing the book you wish he'd written. It can, however, be fairly charged that because of its reprint format, the book lacks structure and narrative drive. Wardlow ought to have attempted to use the articles simply as the first draft of a coherent, fully realized book. As it is, Chasin' That Devil Music is best ingested in small bites.

Great history

Gayle Dean Wardlow has compiled this excellent collection from many of his articles and essays of first-hand research, orignally written for monthly publications such as 78 Quarterly and Blues Unlimited.In the early 1960's, collectors like himself had just started to introduce this fabulous music (Afro-American country blues) to a wider audience. The book specifies that as Wardlow was growing up in Mississippi, he admired the music of country singer Roy Acuff; as a result, he began to collect "race-music" country blues 78's only for the purpose of trading them for other country and hillbilly 78's. His job as an exterminator at the time, allowed him to canvas the neighbourhoods in Mississippi where he was working for rare blues and country records.Not surprisingly, his interest in country blues records that had been issued in the 20's and 30's, was heightened considerably as he began to trade with other collectors. Wardlow was able to interview many friends, relatives, and aquaintances of some of the early blues greats like Charley Patton, Son House, Willie Brown, Bukka White, Tommy Johnson, and of course, Robert Johnson.While these artists are certainly the better known ones, the author drills deep into the history of the blues and finds out much about some of the lesser known, but no less interesting ones like, King Solomon Hill (Joe Holmes), Garfield Akers, the Huff Brothers, and Blind Joe Reynolds to name a few.Along the way, Wardlow also managed to locate and interview H.C. Speir, the guy who discovered many of the artists, acted as their agent, and got them into a recording studio. Another bonus is an interview with Ishman Bracey who was a partner of Tommy Johnson for a while, and who it seems, knew just about everybody else in the South who was playing blues in the 1920's.Readers will find some interesting notes where Wardlow helps to dispell some of the silly myths perpetuated about the blues (I sold my soul to the Devil on a dirt road in exchange for talent; Charley Patton was murdered).Anyone who has the least interest in country blues will enjoy this book and its accompanying CD containing rare recordings and interviews by the artists and promoters discussed in the book. While the book is now out of print, it's historical importance is likely to ensure that it will be republished in the near future.This is one of the most interesting and scholarly books ever written on the subject of country blues. If you want it from the source, this book and the one published by Alex van der Tuuk "Paramount's Rise and Fall" (Mainspring Press) are about as close as you are going to get to the source of this great music.

This book is a reprint of a collection of articles written by blues scholar Gayle Dean Wardlow. The collection contains interviews of blues musicians who helped shaped today's blues music and people who knew artists that no longer lived. The book also contains a CD of rare delta blues recordings made by the artists covered in this book.

I listened to a pod cast featuring dean wardlow and was compelled to buy his books.very interesting story well worth a read if you like the music of the delta region

J'ai commandé ce livre sur le site ou il était présenté accompagné de son Cd physique. J'avais demandé par mail lors de la commande si le cd y était bien inclus et le site répondait que oui, sauf que je ne l'ai pas reçu. Déçu, j'ai tenté de contacter les responsables pour un remboursement ne serait-ce que partiel mais ceux-ci ont ignorés ma demande. Je n'achèterais plus sur ce site. Dommage pour un livre très intéressant.

Green River Blues 3:09 Charley PattonBooker Miller On Patton, Part 1 1:01 Booker MillerFuture Blues 2:57 Willie BrownH.C. Spier On Patton And Brown 0:57 H.C. SpierLooka Here Woman 2:03 Hayes McMullanJoe Callicott On Garfield Akers 0:33 Mississippi Joe CallicottCottonfield Blues pt 1 2:55 Garfield Akers w. Joe CallicottBull Frog Blues 3:08 William HarrisHam Hound and Gravy 2:58 Rube LacyRev. D.C. Rice 2:49 I'm Pressing OnIshmon Bracy interview 0:39 Ishmon BracyWoman Woman Blues 3:28 Ishmon BracyOutside Woman Blues 2:57 Blind Joe ReynoldsJinx Blues 3:25 Son HouseLone Town Blues 2:49 Junior BrooksThe Gone Dead Train 3:18 King Solomon HillBooker Miller On Charlie Patton 1:00 Booker MillerA Spoonful Blues 3:12 Charley PattonNo Ridin' Blues 2:55 Charlie BookerHarmonica Boogie 2:36 The ConfinersIllinois Blues 3:05 Skip JamesAlcohol And Jake Blues 3:22 Tommy JohnsonIshmon Bracy interview 2 0:59 Ishmon Bracy'Take Your Burdens to the Lord 3:12 Blind Roosevelt GravesDone Sold My Soul to the Devil 3:05 David Edwards

Item was delivered far too late. But from USA to Belgium Europe... I don't want to make a fuzz. I send some mails, and they answered very fast and correct. I don't blame the shop; they did their best, I know. CD was missing but it was second hand... I don' worry. I wsa offered a reduction. Life's too beautifull and at least: I wanted that book. Nice book about the blues, just what I needed, fitting the rest of my collection. Impressive photo-material and documentation. Yup... 5 stars.

could the buyer get in touch or better still send me the missing cd that was advertised as part of the order