Preachin' the Blues

Eddie "Son" House is an iconic figure in blues music. As a participant in a legendary 1930s Paramount recording session with fellow pioneer Charlie Patton; mentor to Robert Johnson; performer on Alan Lomax's 1941 field recordings, which introduced Muddy Waters; and a forerunner of the blues revival of the early Sixties, he qualifies as the Flying Dutchman of the genre. Aside from his brilliant lyrics and stunning musicianship, House is perhaps most distinguished as the only major blues figure to forsake the pulpit for the juke joint (usually it was the other way around). Documentation of his career is minimal, fanciful, and at times contradictory. Beaumont (religion & classics, Univ. of Rochester) seeks to redress this neglect with meticulous scholarship masterly applied. Beaumont's work shines especially in his depiction of House's nonrecording years, culminating with a chilling revelation of a self-defense homicide in a Rochester, NY, work camp that echoes the share-cropping community House thought he had escaped via northern migration.