The British blues network : adoption, emulation, and creativity / Andrew Kellett.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kellett, Andrew, 1979- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Blues (Music)--Influence.

Blues (Music).

Blues (Music)--Great Britain--1951-1960.

Blues (Music)--Great Britain--1961-1970.

Blues (Music)--Great Britain--History and criticism.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

263 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, [2017]

Summary:

Beginning in the late 1950s, an influential cadre of young, white, mostly middle-class British men were consuming and appropriating African-American blues music, using blues tropes in their own music and creating a network of admirers and emulators that spanned the Atlantic. This cross-fertilization helped create a commercially successful rock idiom that gave rise to some of the most famous British groups of the era, including The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, Eric Clapton, and Led Zeppelin. What empowered these white, middle-class British men to identify with and claim aspects of the musical idiom of African-American blues musicians? The British Blues Network examines the role of British narratives of masculinity and power in the postwar era of decolonization and national decline that contributed to the creation of this network, and how its members used the tropes, vocabulary, and mythology of African-American blues traditions to forge their own musical identities. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Talkin' 'Bout My Generation: The Socioeconomic and Cultural Background 24

2 Trying to Make London My Home: Introductory Encounters with the Blues 49

3 But My Dad Was Black: Masculinity, Mobility, and Blues Culture in Britain 74

4 Blues Brothers: Camaraderie, Collaboration, and Competition in the British Blues Network 106

5 I Just Can't Be Satisfied: Between Authenticity and Creativity 142.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 223-248) and index.

ISBN:

9780472130528

0472130528

0472036998

9780472036998

OCLC:

985674392