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Audiobook

Up Jumped the Devil

The Real Life of Robert Johnson

by Bruce Conforth, Gayle Dean Wardlow ...

Narrated by Leon Nixon ...

Unabridged

8 hours 33 min

Robert Johnson is the subject of the most famous myth about the blues: he allegedly sold his soul at the crossroads in exchange for his incredible talent, and this deal led to his death at age twenty-seven. But the actual story of his life remains unknown save for a few inaccurate anecdotes. Up Jumped the Devil is the result of over fifty years of research. Gayle Dean Wardlow has been interviewing ... Read more

$28.84 CAD or Free with Kobo Plus

Robert Johnson is the subject of the most famous myth about the blues: he allegedly sold his soul at the crossroads in exchange for his incredible talent, and this deal led to his death at age twenty-seven. But the actual story of his life remains unknown save for a few inaccurate anecdotes. Up Jumped the Devil is the result of over fifty years of research. Gayle Dean Wardlow has been interviewing
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

King of the Blues

The Rise and Reign of B.B. King

by Daniel De Visé ...

Narrated by Cary Hite ...

Unabridged

17 hours 7 min

Riley “Blues Boy” King (1925-2015) was born into deep poverty in Jim Crow Mississippi. Wrenched away from his sharecropper father, B.B. lost his mother at age ten, leaving him more or less alone. Music became his emancipation from exhausting toil in the fields. Inspired by a local minister’s guitar and by the records of Blind Lemon Jefferson and T-Bone Walker and encouraged by his cousin, the ... Read more

$34.34 CAD

Riley “Blues Boy” King (1925-2015) was born into deep poverty in Jim Crow Mississippi. Wrenched away from his sharecropper father, B.B. lost his mother at age ten, leaving him more or less alone. Music became his emancipation from exhausting toil in the fields. Inspired by a local minister’s guitar and by the records of Blind Lemon Jefferson and T-Bone Walker and encouraged by his cousin, the
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Biography of a Phantom

A Robert Johnson Blues Odyssey

by Robert Mack McCormick ...

Narrated by Adam Verner ...

Unabridged

8 hours 46 min

When blues master Robert Johnson's recordings were rereleased to great fanfare in the 1960s, little was known about his life, giving rise to legends that he gained success by selling his soul to the devil. Biography of a Phantom is musicologist Mack McCormick's search, from the late 1960s until McCormick's death in 2015, to uncover Johnson's life story. McCormick spent decades reconstructing ... Read more

$28.84 CAD or Free with Kobo Plus

When blues master Robert Johnson's recordings were rereleased to great fanfare in the 1960s, little was known about his life, giving rise to legends that he gained success by selling his soul to the devil. Biography of a Phantom is musicologist Mack McCormick's search, from the late 1960s until McCormick's death in 2015, to uncover Johnson's life story. McCormick spent decades reconstructing
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

The Blues

by Chris Thomas King ...

Narrated by Adam Lazarre-White ...

Unabridged

24 hours 1 min

All prior histories on the blues have alleged it originated on plantations in the Mississippi Delta. Not true, says author Chris Thomas King. In The Blues, King presents facts to disprove such myths. For example, as early as 1900, the sound of the blues was ubiquitous in New Orleans. The Mississippi Delta, meanwhile, was an unpopulated sportsman’s paradise—the frontier was still in the process of ... Read more

$34.34 CAD

All prior histories on the blues have alleged it originated on plantations in the Mississippi Delta. Not true, says author Chris Thomas King. In The Blues, King presents facts to disprove such myths. For example, as early as 1900, the sound of the blues was ubiquitous in New Orleans. The Mississippi Delta, meanwhile, was an unpopulated sportsman’s paradise—the frontier was still in the process of
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Before Elvis

The African American Musicians Who Made the King

by Preston Lauterbach ...

Narrated by Jaime Lincoln Smith ...

Unabridged

7 hours 39 min

In this thought-provoking book, the Black musicians who influenced Elvis Presley's music finally receive recognition and praise.After Baz Luhrmann’s movie, Elvis, hit theaters, audiences and critics alike couldn't help but question the Black origins of Elvis Presley’s music and style, reigniting a debate that has been circling for decades. In Before Elvis: The African American Musicians Who Made ... Read more

$32.99 CAD

In this thought-provoking book, the Black musicians who influenced Elvis Presley's music finally receive recognition and praise.After Baz Luhrmann’s movie, Elvis, hit theaters, audiences and critics alike couldn't help but question the Black origins of Elvis Presley’s music and style, reigniting a debate that has been circling for decades. In Before Elvis: The African American Musicians Who Made
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Blues and Trouble

Twelve Stories

by Tom Piazza ...

Narrated by Todd Menesses ...

Unabridged

4 hours 47 min

Exploring the diverse landscape of American life, the stories in Blues and Trouble: Twelve Stories capture the lives of people caught between circumstance and their own natures or on the run from fate—from a Jewish couple encountering a dealer in Nazi memorabilia to the troubled family of a Gulf Coast fisherman awaiting a hurricane.Tom Piazza’s debut short story collection, originally published in ... Read more

$20.54 CAD or Free with Kobo Plus

Exploring the diverse landscape of American life, the stories in Blues and Trouble: Twelve Stories capture the lives of people caught between circumstance and their own natures or on the run from fate—from a Jewish couple encountering a dealer in Nazi memorabilia to the troubled family of a Gulf Coast fisherman awaiting a hurricane.Tom Piazza’s debut short story collection, originally published in
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Muscle Shoals Sound Studio

How the Swampers Changed American Music

by Carla Jean Whitley ...

Narrated by Amanda Ronconi ...

Unabridged

3 hours 51 min

An estimated four hundred gold records have been recorded in the Muscle Shoals area. Many of those are thanks to Muscle Shoals Sound Studio and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, dubbed "the Swampers."Some of the greatest names in rock, R&B and blues laid tracks in the original, iconic concrete-block building—the likes of Cher, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Rolling Stones, and the Black Keys. The National ... Read more

$19.22 CAD or Free with Kobo Plus

An estimated four hundred gold records have been recorded in the Muscle Shoals area. Many of those are thanks to Muscle Shoals Sound Studio and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, dubbed "the Swampers."Some of the greatest names in rock, R&B and blues laid tracks in the original, iconic concrete-block building—the likes of Cher, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Rolling Stones, and the Black Keys. The National
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Chasing the Blues

A Memoir

by Dennis Walker ...

Narrated by Steve D. Arnold ...

Unabridged

13 hours 28 min

Dennis Walker has been "chasing the blues" for a lifetime, starting with his first producing credit in 1965. He is a three-time Grammy Award-winning Blues producer and songwriter for Robert Cray's Strong Persuader, The Robert Cray Band's "Don't Be Afraid of The Dark", and B.B. King's "Blues Summit". In a career spanning over 40 years, he won more than 20 Blues Music Association Awards and created ... Read more

$35.72 CAD or Free with Kobo Plus

Dennis Walker has been "chasing the blues" for a lifetime, starting with his first producing credit in 1965. He is a three-time Grammy Award-winning Blues producer and songwriter for Robert Cray's Strong Persuader, The Robert Cray Band's "Don't Be Afraid of The Dark", and B.B. King's "Blues Summit". In a career spanning over 40 years, he won more than 20 Blues Music Association Awards and created
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Anima Nera Anima Bianca

Il Vero Volto Del Blues

by Patrizia Barrera ...

Narrated by Federico Tubaro ...

Unabridged

11 hours 35 min

Un viaggio nel mondo antico del Blues: com'è nato, le sue origini, il suo percorso nel mondo. E poi tante storie e biografie sui suoi protagonisti, bianchi e neri, che hanno contribuito a crearlo e a diffonderlo al grande pubblico.PUBLISHER: TEKTIME ... Read more

$32.99 CAD or Free with Kobo Plus

Un viaggio nel mondo antico del Blues: com'è nato, le sue origini, il suo percorso nel mondo. E poi tante storie e biografie sui suoi protagonisti, bianchi e neri, che hanno contribuito a crearlo e a diffonderlo al grande pubblico.PUBLISHER: TEKTIME
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Your Van Is On Fire

The Miscellaneous Meanderings of a Musician

by Seth Walker ...

Narrated by Seth Walker ...

Unabridged

2 hours 34 min

Your Van Is On Fire is a riotous and charming melange of a touring musician’s meandering life. Part memoir, part meditation, part art gallery, it sheds light on the ins, outs and what-have-yous of life inside the mind and van of an artist. The collection includes short essays, poems, and paintings capturing Walker’s early years growing up in a musical family on a Quaker commune, to his discovery ... Read more

$27.42 CAD or Free with Kobo Plus

Your Van Is On Fire is a riotous and charming melange of a touring musician’s meandering life. Part memoir, part meditation, part art gallery, it sheds light on the ins, outs and what-have-yous of life inside the mind and van of an artist. The collection includes short essays, poems, and paintings capturing Walker’s early years growing up in a musical family on a Quaker commune, to his discovery
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Being Elvis

A Lonely Life

by Ray Connolly ...

Narrated by Russell Bentley ...

Unabridged

13 hours 38 min

What was it like to be Elvis Presley? What did it feel like when impossible fame made him its prisoner? As the world's first rock star there was no one to tell him what to expect, no one with whom he could share the burden of being himself - of being Elvis.On the outside he was all charm, sex appeal, outrageously confident on stage and stunningly gifted in the recording studio. To his fans he ... Read more

$43.99 CAD

What was it like to be Elvis Presley? What did it feel like when impossible fame made him its prisoner? As the world's first rock star there was no one to tell him what to expect, no one with whom he could share the burden of being himself - of being Elvis.On the outside he was all charm, sex appeal, outrageously confident on stage and stunningly gifted in the recording studio. To his fans he
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Symphonie pour un pays neuf

by Lucette Bélanger ...

Narrated by Paul Doucet ...

Unabridged

8 hours 44 min

On est en 1900. Nicolas Ravel, pianiste, médecin et citoyen de La Rochelle en France décide de partir pour l’Amérique. Il veut en savoir plus sur ses ancêtres qui avaient fui la déportation des Acadiens en 1755 et s’étaient réfugiés, avec l’aide des Micmacs à La Petite-Rochelle en Gaspésie, au Québec. Ce dont il ne se doutait pas c’est que le bonheur l’attendait, là, sur le quai. C’était Mira, la ... Read more

$19.99 CAD

On est en 1900. Nicolas Ravel, pianiste, médecin et citoyen de La Rochelle en France décide de partir pour l’Amérique. Il veut en savoir plus sur ses ancêtres qui avaient fui la déportation des Acadiens en 1755 et s’étaient réfugiés, avec l’aide des Micmacs à La Petite-Rochelle en Gaspésie, au Québec. Ce dont il ne se doutait pas c’est que le bonheur l’attendait, là, sur le quai. C’était Mira, la
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Blues, The: The Deep South Sound Born of Hardship and Hope

by Marcus Ellwood ...

Narrated by Marcus Ellwood ...

Unabridged

1 hour 39 min

Experience this evocative music history exploring how deep hardship and soulful resilience birthed a cultural revolution. Perfect for a reflective commute, this immersive origin story transports you to the Mississippi Delta after the Civil War. Listen as quiet survival tools transform into an emotional, world-changing language.Whether you are seeking deep focus or historical inspiration, you will ... Read more

$13.73 CAD or Free with Kobo Plus

Experience this evocative music history exploring how deep hardship and soulful resilience birthed a cultural revolution. Perfect for a reflective commute, this immersive origin story transports you to the Mississippi Delta after the Civil War. Listen as quiet survival tools transform into an emotional, world-changing language.Whether you are seeking deep focus or historical inspiration, you will
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Can't Be Satisfied

The Life and Times of Muddy Waters

by Robert Gordon ...

Narrated by Keb' Mo' ...

Unabridged

12 hours 9 min

“A biography that crackles with as much energy as the great bluesman’s songs.” —Ted Drozdowski, Boston PhoenixThe epic, rollicking, up-and-down life of Muddy Waters—who went from Mississippi farmhand to musical legend, invented electric blues, and created the template for the rock-and- roll band and its wild lifestyle—is chronicled with rare vividness in Robert Gordon’s widely praised biography. ... Read more

$41.99 CAD

“A biography that crackles with as much energy as the great bluesman’s songs.” —Ted Drozdowski, Boston PhoenixThe epic, rollicking, up-and-down life of Muddy Waters—who went from Mississippi farmhand to musical legend, invented electric blues, and created the template for the rock-and- roll band and its wild lifestyle—is chronicled with rare vividness in Robert Gordon’s widely praised biography.
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Spirit of the Century

Our Own Story

by The Blind Boys of Alabama ...

Narrated by Phil Morris ...

Unabridged

7 hours 45 min

An insider history of the Blind Boys of Alabama, the longest running group in American music, and the untold story of their world, written with band members and key musical colleagues.The Blind Boys of Alabama are the quintessential Gospel vocal group, and the longest-running musical institution in America. Their story intersects with pivotal moments and issues in American history and is an ideal ... Read more

$32.99 CAD

An insider history of the Blind Boys of Alabama, the longest running group in American music, and the untold story of their world, written with band members and key musical colleagues.The Blind Boys of Alabama are the quintessential Gospel vocal group, and the longest-running musical institution in America. Their story intersects with pivotal moments and issues in American history and is an ideal
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Brief History of the Blues, A: The Music That Gave Birth to Modern Sound

by Derrick Malone ...

Narrated by Derrick Malone ...

Unabridged

1 hour 47 min

Trace the soulful origins of music history from southern cotton fields to the gritty pulse of global pop. Perfect for your morning commute or a reflective evening listen, this immersive journey explores the raw resilience of Black Americans who turned profound sorrow into a cultural revolution.Feel the electricity of ramshackle juke joints, cramped recording studios, and vibrant city streets as ... Read more

$13.73 CAD or Free with Kobo Plus

Trace the soulful origins of music history from southern cotton fields to the gritty pulse of global pop. Perfect for your morning commute or a reflective evening listen, this immersive journey explores the raw resilience of Black Americans who turned profound sorrow into a cultural revolution.Feel the electricity of ramshackle juke joints, cramped recording studios, and vibrant city streets as
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

When I Left Home

My Story

by Buddy Guy, David Ritz ...

Narrated by Mirron Willis ...

Unabridged

7 hours 28 min

According to Eric Clapton, John Mayer, and the late Stevie Ray Vaughn, Buddy Guy is the greatest blues guitarist of all time. An enormous influence on these musicians as well as on Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck, he is the living embodiment of Chicago blues.Guy’s epic story stands at the absolute nexus of modern blues. He came to Chicago from rural Louisiana in the fifties—the very moment ... Read more

$27.95 CAD or Free with Kobo Plus

According to Eric Clapton, John Mayer, and the late Stevie Ray Vaughn, Buddy Guy is the greatest blues guitarist of all time. An enormous influence on these musicians as well as on Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck, he is the living embodiment of Chicago blues.Guy’s epic story stands at the absolute nexus of modern blues. He came to Chicago from rural Louisiana in the fifties—the very moment
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

The Blues

A Very Short Introduction

by Elijah Wald ...

Narrated by Brian Telestai ...

Unabridged

4 hours 8 min

Praised as "suave, soulful, ebullient" (Tom Waits), Elijah Wald is one of the leading popular music critics of his generation. In The Blues, Wald surveys a genre at the heart of American culture.It has been defined by lyrical structure, or as a progression of chords, or as a set of practices reflecting West African "tonal and rhythmic approaches," using a five-note "blues scale." He traces its ... Read more

$21.97 CAD or Free with Kobo Plus

Praised as "suave, soulful, ebullient" (Tom Waits), Elijah Wald is one of the leading popular music critics of his generation. In The Blues, Wald surveys a genre at the heart of American culture.It has been defined by lyrical structure, or as a progression of chords, or as a set of practices reflecting West African "tonal and rhythmic approaches," using a five-note "blues scale." He traces its
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Blues from Laurel Canyon

My Life as a Bluesman

by John Mayall, Joel McIver ...

Narrated by Derek Perkins ...

Unabridged

8 hours 34 min

John Mayall has played with them all: Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Jack Bruce, Mick Fleetwood, Mick Taylor, Andy Fraser, and the list goes on. Now, in his 80s, John continues to tour all over the world and perform to sold-out crowds. With an incredible blues career spanning over fifty years, rightly earning him the title the “Godfather of British Blues,” John shares his experiences and encounters in ... Read more

$27.95 CAD or Free with Kobo Plus

John Mayall has played with them all: Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Jack Bruce, Mick Fleetwood, Mick Taylor, Andy Fraser, and the list goes on. Now, in his 80s, John continues to tour all over the world and perform to sold-out crowds. With an incredible blues career spanning over fifty years, rightly earning him the title the “Godfather of British Blues,” John shares his experiences and encounters in
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Dancing with Muddy

Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, and My Lucky Life In and Out of the Blues

by Jerry Portnoy ...

Narrated by Tom Campbell ...

Unabridged

7 hours 38 min

Jerry Portnoy grew up in Chicago hearing the blues being played outside his father's rug store on famed Maxwell Street during the late 1940s and early '50s.After dropping out of college, he became immersed in the colorful world of pool hustlers as he managed the largest pool hall in Chicago. During a stint as a paratrooper early in the Vietnam war, he applied for discharge as a conscientious ... Read more

$28.84 CAD or Free with Kobo Plus

Jerry Portnoy grew up in Chicago hearing the blues being played outside his father's rug store on famed Maxwell Street during the late 1940s and early '50s.After dropping out of college, he became immersed in the colorful world of pool hustlers as he managed the largest pool hall in Chicago. During a stint as a paratrooper early in the Vietnam war, he applied for discharge as a conscientious
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Beyoncé

by Tshepo Mokoena ...

Narrated by Nerissa Bradley ...

Series series Lives of the Musicians
Unabridged

3 hours 32 min

Beyoncé is not simply a pop sensation. She is a cultural phenomenon empowering the oppressed and dispossessed, challenging white privilege and misogyny and exploding gender politics. But who is Beyoncé Knowles-Carter? And how did a small girl from Houston become the strong confident woman whose albums sell in their millions and whose songs have become anthems against racial and sexual ... Read more

$43.99 CAD

Beyoncé is not simply a pop sensation. She is a cultural phenomenon empowering the oppressed and dispossessed, challenging white privilege and misogyny and exploding gender politics. But who is Beyoncé Knowles-Carter? And how did a small girl from Houston become the strong confident woman whose albums sell in their millions and whose songs have become anthems against racial and sexual
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Slowhand

The Life and Music of Eric Clapton

by Philip Norman ...

Narrated by Peter Coates ...

Unabridged

14 hours 33 min

From the bestselling author of Shout!, comes the definitive biography of Eric Clapton, a Rock legend whose life story is as remarkable as his music, which transformed the sound of a generation.For half a century Eric Clapton has been acknowledged to be one of music's greatest virtuosos, the unrivalled master of an indispensable tool, the solid-body electric guitar. His career has spanned the ... Read more

$41.99 CAD

From the bestselling author of Shout!, comes the definitive biography of Eric Clapton, a Rock legend whose life story is as remarkable as his music, which transformed the sound of a generation.For half a century Eric Clapton has been acknowledged to be one of music's greatest virtuosos, the unrivalled master of an indispensable tool, the solid-body electric guitar. His career has spanned the
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Einige Geschichten vom Blues

Hinein ins Delta

by Volker Braumann, Volker Braumann ...

Narrated by Volker Braumann ...

Unabridged

1 hour 19 min

"Leute fragen mich immer wieder, wo der Blues denn eigentlich begann, und alles, was ich sagen kann, ist, dass, als ich ein Junge war, wir immer auf den Feldern gesungen haben. Es war kein richtiges Singen, na ja, eher so Schreien, aber wir machten unsere Songs über Sachen, die uns damals tatsächlich passierten, und ich denke, das war die Zeit, als der Blues begann." (Son House 1965) Es ist heute ... Read more

$6.87 CAD or Free with Kobo Plus

"Leute fragen mich immer wieder, wo der Blues denn eigentlich begann, und alles, was ich sagen kann, ist, dass, als ich ein Junge war, wir immer auf den Feldern gesungen haben. Es war kein richtiges Singen, na ja, eher so Schreien, aber wir machten unsere Songs über Sachen, die uns damals tatsächlich passierten, und ich denke, das war die Zeit, als der Blues begann." (Son House 1965) Es ist heute
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Blues People

Negro Music in White America

by LeRoi Jones ...

Narrated by Prentice Onayemi ...

Unabridged

8 hours 54 min

“The path the slave took to ‘citizenship’ is what I want to look at. And I make my analogy through the slave citizen’s music—through the music that is most closely associated with him: blues and a later, but parallel, development, jazz…[If] the Negro represents, or is symbolic of, something in and about the nature of American culture, this certainly should be revealed by his characteristic music. ... Read more

$27.95 CAD or Free with Kobo Plus

“The path the slave took to ‘citizenship’ is what I want to look at. And I make my analogy through the slave citizen’s music—through the music that is most closely associated with him: blues and a later, but parallel, development, jazz…[If] the Negro represents, or is symbolic of, something in and about the nature of American culture, this certainly should be revealed by his characteristic music.
... Read more

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