I'd Rather Be The Devil - Softcover

Calt, Stephen

3.8

146 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0306805790 ISBN 13: 9780306805790

Publisher: Da Capo Press, 1994

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Skip James (1902-1969) was one of the greatest Mississippi bluesmen, and a creative and idiosyncratic blues musician. His 1931 performances of "Devil Got My Woman", "I'm So Glad" and "22-20 Blues" transcend the genre. "I'd Rather Be The Devil" is a biography of James - and one of the few accounts of the dangerous and disreputable life of a professional blues musician. Based largely on hundreds of hours of conversations with James himself, Stephen Calt paints a portrait of a man troubled by his own murderous inclinations, a man who achieved one moment of greatness in a life haunted by failure. And, in doing so, Calt offers insights into the nature of the blues, the world in which it thrived, and its fate when that world vanished.

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From the Back Cover:

This probing study uncovers much of the life and personality of one of the most talented, but disturbed, of bluesmen, Skip James. In documenting the singer's decline during the period of his greatest exposure, Stephen Calt challenges the values of blues enthusiasts and calls into question widely accepted beliefs about the blues genre, its history and its exponents.

About the Author:

Stephen Calt is the author of King of the Delta Blues: The Life and Music of Charlie Patton and the coauthor of R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz and Country. He died in October 2010.

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