Early Blues: The First Stars of Blues Guitar by Jas Obrecht (2015)

The early blues guitar legends Blind Willie Johnson, Blind Blake, Papa Charlie Jackson, Tampa Red, Sylvester Weaver, Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Willie McTell, Lonnie Johnson and Blind Lemon Jefferson are the subject of this excellently researched book that will delight blues fans.

And fans of traditional jazz too, since the musicians at the center here all recorded and played from the mid-1920s until the early 1950s (as did Tampa Red) and were in close contact with early traditional jazz bands and ragtime outfits. Some also recorded with popular jazzmen of the times as did Lonnie Johnson (with Duke Ellington) and Blind Blake (with Johnny Dodds). Others simply died before the swing bands really took off in the 1940s; however, the volume here is concerned with those who were the pioneers and recorded during the 1920s. Even so, many early jazz guitar players technically took over from where the bluesmen, acoustic and electric, left off.

Even though there is not exactly new information on the nine important musicians in Obrecht’s book, their portraits here are still very well done, concise and to the point, as are the many details concerning promotional material and recording session line ups.

This is a solid volume on the pioneers of the blues guitar that also supplies a lot of historical background information, many promotional shots and advertisement reproductions in excellent quality. Some sixty pages here are devoted to guitar wizard Lonnie Johnson alone, an artist still underestimated today.

The blues fan who is just beginning to collect data, songs and historical information could start with this volume and get his money’s worth.

Author Obrecht is a popular music journalist, known for his work as an editor for Guitar Player magazine. He also contributed to Rolling Stone and Living Blues. In 2000, he received much attention for his Rollin’ and Tumblin’: The Postwar Blues Guitarists.

Review by Dr. A. Ebert © 2016

Jas Obrecht. Early Blues: The First Stars of Blues Guitar. University of Minnesota Press, 2015, 260 p.