Blues People

 Blues People: Negro Music in White America by Amiri Baraka (1963) 256 pages

Baraka, who was also a poet and playwright, published this originally under the name LeRoi Jones. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Prentice Onayemi. I added this to my reading list because I've become more interested in the roots of rock 'n roll. Being new to the St. Louis area I'm excited to explore the National Blues Museum eventually. Baraka's essay writing is super inciteful and detailed. He touches very briefly on rock 'n roll toward the end as it was still such a new genre in 1963. However, his illumination of the history and culture of Africans brought to the Caribbean and the Americas as slaves provides so much value in understanding the development of blues and jazz. White mainstream popular music constantly adopted aspects of black music, but always with a delay and a watering down through racist attitudes of each era.