Been Here and Gone: A Memoir of the Blues by David Dalton

Been Here and Gone: A Memoir of the Blues by David Dalton. 

"Can I tell you about the blues? Baby, I was born with the blues...."

This is a fiction about an old time bluesman, Coley Williams.  Coley was a backup musician for some of the most famous blues artists of the 20th century.  At the age of 102 Coley agrees to tell his life story for the first time. He was born into a farming family on the Mississippi Plantations where he soon discovered his talent for playing the blues.  He travels the Mississippi Delta, hopping freighters and crossing crossroads, to play in juke joints and little shanties leaving his family behind.  During this 100 year span he encounters the Great Flood of 1927 , the Great Depression, the race riots of the 1960s and the Civil Rights Movement.  Here are mini-biographies of some great blues legends whose paths he crosses: Charley Patton, Tommy Johnson, Bessie Smith, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Ma Rainey, T-Bone Walker, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Robert Johnson, Elvis, Jimi Hendrix, among many many others.   David Dalton, formerly of the Rolling Stone magazine, has written a true history of the blues.  Traditionally he has written biographies of great musicians such as the Beatles, Janis Joplin, The Rolling Stones, James Dean, Jim Morrison, and the Grateful Dead. 

I enjoyed the southern voice and feel of this book as well as the history and the music.  The music is sad, electrifying, artful, and can never be repeated.  Thanks to David Dalton for giving us the blues!