Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues

Like many others, I have always thought of the blues as a traditional, black musical style rooted in rural poverty, slavery, violence and dark bargains with the devil.

Escaping the Delta gently debunks these myths, and replaces them with an explanation that is both more interesting and more convincing. The book is intelligently structured, with an introductory section, a song-by-song treatment of Johnson's recordings (listen as you read!) and a rather understated wrap-up.

This is not a biography, and it leaves much of Johnson's life, relationships and death untouched. But Wald's point is that Johnson has been hijacked and turned into a modern phenomenon that would be unrecognizable to him and his peers, so he rightly focuses on the legend rather than the life.

If you are new to the blues, buy a copy of Escaping the Delta and a CD of the complete recordings of Robert Johnson, settle down with your favourite beverage and enjoy this book. If you are already into the blues, do all of the above, dig deeper into your record collection....and be ready for some surprises.

I have nothing but praise for this book, which is immaculately researched, fresh in its thinking, and always entertaining. I recommend it unreservedly.


Fascinatingly different take on the story of the blues   January 24, 2005
NickG (Milton Keynes UK)
20 out of 20 found this review helpful

Chuck away your romantic notions (if you had any). The blues wasn't the heart-aching voice of the opressed, but the down-home pop music of its time. The 'names' were professionally slick, and lived a good(-ish) life.

One could probably quibble with some of the interpretations of the music's history, but this is fascinating and valuable re-consideration of the story of the blues as we thought we knew it.

It's a shame in a way, because I always rather liked the more traditional take, but it's probably about time I grew up anyway.


A Serious Work Which Challenges the Stereotypes   December 29, 2006
G. P. Akerman (Oxford, England)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful

The American reviews inside the cover make it clear that this caused quite a stir in the States. This is a terrific book - and one which, for once, challenges the blues fan a little, rather than providing familiar stereotypes of lonesome Delta bluesmen developing their genius in rural isolation. For anyone who loves Robert Johnson, Son House, Skip James et al, this will be a treat - but a treat which will possibly change the way you regard their music. (It even comes with a CD!)


A novel take on a legend of the Blues   May 29, 2010
J. Ratcliff (Lincoln, UK)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

For a lifelong Blues fan, and lover of the of the Delta Blues, this book was a revelation and helped me to re-evaluate my opinion not only of Robert Johnson but also of many other artists who were his contemporaries, as well as the place of the Blues in the history of 20th Century popular music.

The book starts with Wald's own personal recollection of how he started questioning the myth of Robert Johnson and investigating the reality. The rest of the book is then divided into three main sections.

The first section puts Robert Johnson into his cultural and historical context. Chapter 1 discusses what is actually meant by the term 'the Blues' and looks at how music and musicians are classified as belonging to one genre or another. Wald makes the valid point that market forces have contributed much to our popular (mis)understanding of the Blues and that this is very much at odds with what people in the 20-30's would have understood as 'Blues music'.

The remaining chapters then offer a survey of Blues music and its most popular performers from the start of the 20th Century up to the 30's. Wald's main points are that Blues was much more varied than the 12 bar, Country/ Delta style, but also included the hugely popular female dominated Classic Blues of Bessie Smith and Victoria Spivey as well as the piano/ guitar blues of Leroy Carr, Tampa Red & Peetie Wheatstraw. That the recorded works of the major artists does not accurately reflect the varied repetoire that most musicians played or their ability to cross-over to different genres. Finally that the image of the dungeree, plaid shirt, country bumpkin folk singer also marginalises the professionalism of those singers as well as the real and butal poverty they were trying to escape.

The second section looks at the life and music of Robert Johnson, chapter 6 offers a overview of what we know about the life, career and death of Johnson. The next four chapters then give a detailed critique of the 29 recordings that he left. Wald is obviously a fan but not a rose tinted one, and does not hesitate to emphasise the bad as well as praise the good, looking at both the lyrics and the music, and Johnson's influences (such as Kokomo Arnold & Son House). As other reviewers have noted, this section is best read whilst listening to the actually recordings, (I recommend the two albums 'King of the Delta Blues vols. 1 & 2' because of their superior mastering). Finally, Wald looks at Johnson's legacy and hypothesises where Johnson might have gone next musically if he had lived.

The third section then examines how the Blues developed after Robert Johnson, focussing on how popular history has revised the importance of, and even written out completely, very influential Blues artists such as Dinah Washington because they don't meet the supposed criteria of an authentic Blues artist, before concluding how the myth of Robert Johnson developed in the 60's and has grown almost unchallenged ever since. Finally an appendix looks at supposed role of the Devil in Johnson's life and music and again highlights how one element in a complex personality has been overemphasised. Both the first and third section is best read whilst listening to the box sets 'History of Rhythm & Blues vols. 1, 2 & 3, which contains tracks by most of the artists mentioned. These are well mastered, very reasonably priced and contain a wealth of information on both the artists as well as an overview of how the music developed.

Wald writes in an engaging style, is clear and uses lots of sources to back up his points, mainly eyewitness accounts such as Johnny Shines. Even if you don't agree with all of his conclusions this is an exceptionally well presented argument which manages to redress some of the oversimplifications and mythology of one of the most important music artists of the late 20th Century.

Buy without fear of getting a bum deal.


Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the invention of the blues   September 10, 2009
G. Wraith (Leeds UK)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

A really great book, which has certainly changed by view of the origins of the Blues, and who were the famous originators of this great music.

As a life long blues fan this got me digging around my old vinyl records looking for new stuff as there were artists listed that i had never heard of....

The book puts into context the journey of the inception of the blues, the early roots, through the life of Robert Johnson, primarily focusing on the music rather than the so many of the mythical stories which have been written about the man. Looking at the people who were popular around the times that johnson was recording and where Johnson's musical inspirations came from and the people who influenced him.

The book is very well researched with lots of quotes from bluesmen who were still alive at the time of writing, and also people who knew Johnson.

The authors interpretation of how time has influenced and shaped the 00's view of where the blues came from, and how this opinion changed from the 30's through to the 60's and to the modern day, and how the musical journey has changed the view of where the music originated.

A great reference book that I would highly recommend to anyone who is just discovered the blues or a lifelong fan like me, this book is thought provoking and will question how you see Robert Johnson in the history of the blues? Is he the greatest ever blues guitarist or was he just a good delta guitarist of his time whose popularity was created by Blues revivalists in the 60s who were looking for raw blues?