Blues Unlimited
ebook ∣ Essential Interviews from the Original Blues Magazine · Music in American Life
By Bill Greensmith

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British blues fan Mike Leadbitter launched the magazine Blues Unlimited in 1963. The groundbreaking publication fueled the then-nascent, now-legendary blues revival that reclaimed seminal figures like Son House and Skip James from obscurity. Throughout its history, Blues Unlimited heightened the literacy of blues fans, documented the latest news and career histories of countless musicians, and set the standard for revealing long-form interviews. Conducted by Bill Greensmith, Mike Leadbitter, Mike Rowe, John Broven, and others, and covering a who's who of blues masters, these essential interviews from Blues Unlimited shed light on their subjects while gleaning colorful detail from the rough and tumble of blues history. Here is Freddie King playing a string of one-nighters so grueling it destroys his car; five-year-old Fontella Bass gigging at St. Louis funeral homes; and Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup rising from life in a packing crate to music stardom. Here, above all, is an eyewitness history of the blues written in neon lights and tears, an American epic of struggle and transcendence, of Saturday night triumphs and Sunday morning anonymity, of clean picking and dirty deals. Featuring interviews with: Fontella Bass, Ralph Bass, Fred Below, Juke Boy Bonner, Roy Brown, Albert Collins, James Cotton, Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, Joe Dean, Henry Glover, L.C. Green, Dr. Hepcat, Red Holloway, Louise Johnson, Floyd Jones, Moody Jones, Freddie King, Big Maceo Merriweather, Walter Mitchell, Louis Myers, Johnny Otis, Snooky Pryor, Sparks Brothers, Jimmy Thomas, Jimmy Walker, and Baby Boy Warren.|
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Contents
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Regional Blues
Part I Chicago
Freddie King
Jimmy Walker
Louis Myers
James Cotton
Red Holloway
Fred Below
The Old Swing-Masters:
Moody Jones
Floyd Jones
Snooky Pryor
Postscript
Part II Detroit
Baby Boy Warren
Big Maceo
Walter Mitchell
LC Green
Part III St. Louis
Jimmy Thomas
Joe Dean
Sparks Brothers
Fontella Bass
Part IV Mississippi
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup
Louise Johnson
Part V Texas
Juke Boy Bonner
Dr. Hepcat
Albert Collins
Part VI West Coast
Johnny Otis
Roy Brown
Part VII Record Men
Henry Glover
Ralph Bass
Index
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"The musicians run the gamut from the well known (Albert Collins, Freddie King, Arthur Crudup) to the obscure... The University of Illinois Press is to be commended for making this material available once more, this time in permanent form."—Journal of Folklore Research
"Groundbreaking artist interviews and a covey of the most enlightening are collected here (along with a gang of photos) over the volume's generous 496 pages. A necessary purchase."—Gary von Tersch, Big City Rhythm & Blues Blues
"Blues Unlimited set the standard for all of the other blues publications that followed in its wake. . . . Throughout the book, the editors and writers of Blues Unlimited show a deep knowledge of the history of the musicians under consideration."—Blues Blast Magazine
|Bill Greensmith is a photographer from England now living in St. Louis; producer of CDs for Red Lightnin', Ace and Rhino Records and consultant for numerous record companies; former co-editor of Blues Unlimited (1974–87); and former host of a weekly blues radio program on KDHX, St. Louis (1989–94). Mike Rowe is a longtime blues broadcaster, reviewer, writer, and compiler, and the author of Chicago Blues. Mark Camarigg is publications manager and former assistant editor for Living Blues Magazine and chairs The Center for the Study of Southern Culture's annual Blues Symposium at The University of Mississippi.
"Groundbreaking artist interviews and a covey of the most enlightening are collected here (along with a gang of photos) over the volume's generous 496 pages. A necessary purchase."—Gary von Tersch, Big City Rhythm & Blues Blues
"Blues Unlimited set the standard for all of the other blues publications that followed in its wake. . . . Throughout the book, the editors and writers of Blues Unlimited show a deep knowledge of the history of the musicians under consideration."—Blues Blast Magazine
|Bill Greensmith is a photographer from England now living in St. Louis; producer of CDs for Red Lightnin', Ace and Rhino Records and consultant for numerous record companies; former co-editor of Blues Unlimited (1974–87); and former host of a weekly blues radio program on KDHX, St. Louis (1989–94). Mike Rowe is a longtime blues broadcaster, reviewer, writer, and compiler, and the author of Chicago Blues. Mark Camarigg is publications manager and former assistant editor for Living Blues Magazine and chairs The Center for the Study of Southern Culture's annual Blues Symposium at The University of Mississippi.