The Original Blues is a detailed account of the appearance and popularization of the blues on the black professional stage. It commences with a survey of the black vaudeville platforms that took hold in the South at the end of the nineteenth century, and goes on to trace the evolution of the blues in black vaudeville, 1910–30, concluding with a consideration of how vaudeville blues helped shape the country blues guitar phenomenon.
While The Original Blues is a self-contained work, it makes a logical companion to our first two books, Out of Sight and Ragged but Right. It was not our original intention, but we find ourselves completing what could be considered a trilogy, covering the development of black popular music from the period immediately preceding the appearance of ragtime to the full fruition and commercialization of the blues. Of course, we have only begun to tell the whole story; much ground is left to cover.
The research that connects Out of Sight, Ragged but Right, and The Original Blues has consumed more than a quarter of a century. It has enabled a chronological perspective on the early blues—a counterpoint to retrospective analyses that use recordings from the 1920s as a touchstone.
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Research for The Original Blues involved pilgrimages to many different libraries and archives. We would like to acknowledge assistance received at:
Amistad Research Center, Tulane University, New Orleans.
Bradley Memorial Library, Columbus, Georgia.
Bull Street Library, Savannah, Georgia.
Center for Popular Music, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro.
Earl K. Long Library, University of New Orleans.
Institute for Jazz Studies, Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey.
Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky.
Goodlettsville Public Library, Goodlettsville, Tennessee.
Florida State Library and Archive, Tallahassee.
Hogan Jazz Archive, Tulane University, New Orleans.
Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, Tulane University, New Orleans.
Jacksonville Public Library, Florida.
John Hope and Aurelia Elizabeth Franklin Library, Fisk University, Nashville.
Lila D. Bunch Library, Belmont University, Nashville.
Louisiana Division, New Orleans Public Library.
Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans.
McWherter Library, University of Memphis.
Memphis Public Library.
Middle Georgia Regional Library, Macon.
Nashville Room of the Nashville Public Library.
Nassau County Public Library, Fernandina Beach Branch, Florida.
Schomberg Research Center, New York City.
Smathers Library, University of Florida, Gainesville.
Tampa Bay History Center, Florida.
Tennessee State Library and Archive, Nashville.
Thomas G. Carpenter Library, University of North Florida, Jacksonville.
University of South Florida Library, Tampa.
Williams Research Center, New Orleans.
We also wish to thank the many individuals who took time assisting us, including:
Hayden Battle, Nicholas Benoit, Pen Bogert, Joey Brackner, Charles J. Elmore, Alaina Hebert, Vic Hobson, Jeanette Hunter, Muriel McDowell Jackson, Michael Jones, Annie Kemp, Johnny Maddox, Arely del Martinez, Tom McDermott, Roger Misiewicz, Michael Montgomery, Bruce Nemerov, Bruce Boyd Raeburn, Richard Raichelson, Keli Rylance, David Sager, Wayne D. Shirley, Richard Spottswood, Adam Swanson, Gaile Thomas, Kevin Williams, and Patti Windom.
We owe a particular debt of gratitude to David Evans for his advice and assistance, as well as for his informative reading of the manuscript. Wayne D. Shirley also contributed a valuable critical reading. Special thanks are due as well to Chris Ware for the cover design.
Preliminary formulations of the research that culminated in The Original Blues have appeared in various journals and anthologies, including “Bessie Smith: The Early Years,” Blues & Rhythm: The Gospel Truth, no. 70 (June 1992); “‘They Cert’ly Sound Good to Me’: Sheet Music, Southern Vaudeville, and the Commercial Ascendancy of the Blues,” American Music 14, no. 4 (Winter 1996), reprinted in David Evans, ed., Ramblin’ on My Mind: New Perspectives on the Blues (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2008); and “The Life and Death of Pioneer Bluesman Butler ‘String Beans’ May,” Tributaries: Journal of the Alabama Folklife Association, no. 5 (2002).