Highway 61

Crossroads on the Blues Highway

A musical pilgrimage unraveling the true history of the bluesA history of the legendary blues Highway and the route taken by modern-day blues pilgrims on their journey south into the Mississippi Delta, this book draws on the work of the early musicologists looking for an authentic Delta folk music in the 1930s, to the record collectors from the northern cities in the 1950s. It examines the campaigns of the Popular Front in the 1940s as it looked for a musical form arising from the struggles of a newly emerging black American proletariat, through to the young white musicians who brought blues back to the U.S. from England in the 1960s. Derek Bright brings together a mass of evidence from numerous sources and suggests that we need to understand how historians have interpreted the music from the Deep South and the impact this has had on the narrative of the blues if we are to fully appreciate the journey into the music's past that Highway 61 offers. For anyone embarking on the blues pilgrimage this is essential reading that ensures the blues pilgrim gets the most from the land where blues began.