I found this to be one of the most informative books I have ever read on country blues, breaking it down by regions of the south and containing many in-depth biographies of several seminal blues artists. Essential.

Read this along with Robert Palmer's "Deep Blues" for a great overall perspective on blues music and its history. Informative and interesting for any music lover.

For anyone who is interested in the Blues and needs a starting point for information, this is the book. It is easy to read, very basic, yet charged with emotion. Charters shows great concern for the artists he portrays in this book. He doesn't cover a great deal of technical info, nor does he go into great detail about the artists and their music, however he is able to portray a charming overview of the lives and music of these bluesmen. If you are looking for a book with more specifics, THE BLUES MAKERS: AND SWEET AS THE SHOWERS OF RAIN by Sam Carters is a good choice. Also, be sure to read the introduction of both books - they clearly explain Charter's mission.

This book is a have to read.It inspires like no other and captures the mind intensly. If you like blues then you must get this book, right away. My faverite chapture is the one about snooks, a blues man. He is blind but can play the gatar like no other.

This is Hickory...... saying peace out brothers.

I just finished using this as a text for an introductory literature course. The Charters' anthology worked well for college studnets, and it would be a great handbook for anyone who enjoys reading. The selections are excellent, with poetry, fiction, drama, essays, and even a few excerpts from screenplays. The selections are representative of a wide variety of styles, time periods, nationalities, genders, ethnicities, etc. The "Casebook" sections allow the reader to focus on one particular writer--with his/her work, criticism, letters, essays, etc.--so the Charters offer depth as well as breadth. The selections are introduced with poignant and thorough (but still concise) biographical notes. There are also clear, cogent, valuable explanations of literary terms/concepts that students can approach, teachers can use, and the average reader can understand with ease. I highly recommend this book to anyone.

I use this text in my high school creative writing course, which includes units on fiction, poetry, and screenwriting. My students love the book because I allow them opportunities to choose works that they want to read, and the casebooks allow them to study some of their favorite authors in depth (e.g., Sandra Cisneros and Raymond Carver). The only drawback to the book is that the teacher's edition includes good discussion questions, but fails to provide any answers to those questions. While I don't believe discussion questions, particularly in poetry, have right or wrong answers, at times I found myself unable to grasp the questions intent.