Dimensions
156 x 234 x 19mm
A fascinating account of blues and gospel music of the post-war period and the hidden black history it reveals.
This is a sequel to the author's well-received previous book 'Roosevelt's Blue' (1997). 'The Truman and Eisenhower Blues' is a fascinating and exhaustive account of the gospel and blues music of the post-war period (1945-1960). Van Rijn studies over 300 songs, many of them rare recordings, from artists including Fats Domino, John Lee Hooker and BB King, and transcribes 123 of them in their entirety.
Tapping sources which have previously been neglected by historians, musicologists and sociologists, he provides an illuminating examination of the themes at the heart of this Cold War music: the reconversion, the atomic bomb, the Korean War, civil rights, Presidential elections, the economy and the space race.
This book gives blues and gospel fans a unique chance to understand what the artists were really singing about in their classic recordings from the late forties and the fifties.
