Hand Me My Travelin' Shoes: In Search of Blind Willie McTell
 RRP £9.99 Lowest New Price £4.68 
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Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Number of pages: 448 Language: English (Original Language) Language: English (Unknown) Language: English (Published) |
RRP: £9.99
Well researched but dull in places. Still worth a look though.
Review date: 2008-07-28 Rating: 6 out of 10
There is a terrific long magazine article about Blind Willie McTell lurking inside this book. The effort it took researching it doubtless made Gray feel he deserved to put his name to the rather grander output of a book. The trouble is that often the little hard-won information there is about the bluesman is sometimes overshadowed by the story about how the author tracked it down. So rather than being the story of Blind Willie McTell, its the story of how Michael Gray researched the story of Blind Willie McTell. At least in titling the book "In search of..." author and pubisher are honest about this. You read at length about trips to libraries, archives, registrars, and county halls in search of documents. A lot of it hinges on birth, death and marriage certificates for McTell and many of his friends, family and acquintances. Its impressive what Gray tracks down but I am left wondering if it is all that interesting. Strangely there seems more detail of the family story in the 19th century than the 20th. The context-setting of the civil war period and its aftermath are quite excellent. Elsewhere though, facts can be scarce, and the travelogue of the contemporary south which Gray falls back on at these points, failed to really engage me. I'd give this book three and a half stars I suppose. For people interested in McTell it is worth reading, make no mistake. I just found some of the writing a little dull, and the book as a whole a little too long. It does contain the most complete discography of McTell in existence, and a lengthy explanation of what he recorded where and in what circumstance - with tantalising mention of tracks that are no longer in existence (as far as we know). For that alone Gray deserves praise, and his book will be of interest to fans of this music.
Reviews
A great read
Review date: 2008-06-08 Rating: 10 out of 10
I first came across the book when the auther was interviewed by Laurie Taylor on Radio 4's 'Thinking Allowed' - it was the detail that was apparent from the interview that atracted me to the book. So many books covering 'rural blues' simply touch the surface, so that death cirtificate's lack of information, gaps in lives etc., and oft repeated cliches are taken to reflect the vagaries of the musicians rather than the indeference and racial hostility of the society that they lived in. Yes, this is a detailed read, but it's all the better for it, you get a clear understanding of the man, his music and the times that he lived in - an able, intellegent man, much loved by thoses around him and able to deal with great skill with the society in which he lived. I wish that there were more of this kind around - highly recomended!! Now try the box set of his music - great value, a great listen from a great man.
Badly in need of an editor
Review date: 2008-03-06 Rating: 6 out of 10
While this book certainly gives some sort of a picture of dustbowl America in the pre-war years in particular, it is a tedious read.
If, like me, you are someone who skips over the detailed family trees to get to the real subject in biographies, then this is not the book for you. Only after 170 pages did the story get going, largely because of the author's addiction to detail. The result is that Blind Willie barely emerges as a character in his own book, especially since none of the pictures described in the book are included (not in my edition anyway).
There's a good thin book hiding in here. Maybe before the paperback come out, Michael Gray can have another go at it - and put in a few pictures.
Fascinating and insightful portrait
Review date: 2007-08-05 Rating: 8 out of 10
This is an eye-opening book, which has enriched my understanding and appreciation of Blind Willie McTell and the blues. Only the absence of maps and a family tree - essential given the welter of place names and people mentioned - prevents it getting five stars.
Fascinating account of blues musician & the world where he recorded his music
Review date: 2007-07-23 Rating: 10 out of 10
Michael Gray's astonishingly detailed biography of Blind Willie McTell brings both the man and the world in which he made his music into vivid life. Almost like one of Willie's songs, Grays' book rambles through 150 years of American history - from Willie McTell's white Confederate great-grandfather to today's record companies and his current descendants puzzling over the royalties of songs that were recorded by Taj Mahal and the Allman Brothers. Willie remains a fascinatingly Protean figure. Always fiercely independent despite his blindness, he carried in his head a vivid mental image of the world as he rambled and recorded from Georgia to Chicago. There is a sense of how each person interviewed met a subtly different McTell. His clear tenor voice and idiosyncratic virtuoso 12 string guitar remain undimmed by the passing of time and inspired one of Bob Dylan's most haunting songs.
Product Details/Specifications
Authors:
Michael Gray
Recording label: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Manufacturer: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
EAN: 9780747565611
Binding: Paperback
ISBN: 0747565619
Number of pages: 448
Publication date: 2008-10-06
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: English (Unknown)
Language: English (Published)
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