Hand Me My Travelin' Shoes by Michael Gray
The great pre-war blues musician Blind Willie McTell was one of the most gifted artists of his generation, with an exquisite voice and a sublime talent for the 12-string guitar. Yet he never achieved stardom, and until now little has been written about his extraordinary life. In this odyssey to the American South, Gray evokes the turbulent history of McTell's time and place and peels back the many layers of his compelling, sometimes tragic but ultimately uplifting story. Part biography, part travelogue, part social history, this is an atmospheric, unforgettable tale.
`Part biography/part travelogue, this is a fascinating exploration of the life of the Georgia bluesman from the great Dylanologist' * Observer Music Monthly *
`The narrative is sprinkled with curious information, memorable meetings and fogeyish asidesAt the end of a fascinating journey we know much more not only about McTell but about the world of intractable otherness that blues musicians of his time had to negotiate' * Tony Russell, Mojo *
`A wonderful book about a spellbinding musician ... his understanding of the strange, contradictory forces that made McTell's music so beguiling is deep' * Will Hodgkinson, Guardian *
`Fascinating ... Gray is a fastidious researcher and here presents not just an authoritative portrait of the great bluesman, but also a vivid history of the South in general ... Gray is also a sharply observant travel writer and some of the book's best writing is devoted to brilliantly evocative descriptions of the backwaters he visits and the people he meets *****' * Uncut *
`The narrative is sprinkled with curious information, memorable meetings and fogeyish asidesAt the end of a fascinating journey we know much more not only about McTell but about the world of intractable otherness that blues musicians of his time had to negotiate' * Tony Russell, Mojo *
`A wonderful book about a spellbinding musician ... his understanding of the strange, contradictory forces that made McTell's music so beguiling is deep' * Will Hodgkinson, Guardian *
`Fascinating ... Gray is a fastidious researcher and here presents not just an authoritative portrait of the great bluesman, but also a vivid history of the South in general ... Gray is also a sharply observant travel writer and some of the book's best writing is devoted to brilliantly evocative descriptions of the backwaters he visits and the people he meets *****' * Uncut *
Michael Gray is a writer on music and travel. An expert on rock 'n' roll history, he is author of the critically acclaimed Song & Dance Man III: The Art of Bob Dylan and The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780747565611 |
| ISBN 10 | 0747565619 |
| Title | Hand Me My Travelin' Shoes |
| Author | Michael Gray |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing PLC |
| Year published | 2008-10-06 |
| Number of pages | 448 |
| Prizes | Short-listed for James Tait Black Memorial Book Prize: Biography 2008 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |