From October 1959 until the mid-1970s, Paul Oliver and Mack McCormick collaborated on what they hoped to be a definitive history and analysis of the blues in Texas. Both were prominent scholars and researchers—Oliver had already established an impressive record of publications, and McCormick was building a sprawling collection of primary materials that included field recordings and interviews with blues musicians from all over Texas and the greater South.
Despite being eagerly awaited by blues fans, folklorists, historians, and ethnomusicologists who knew about the Oliver-McCormick collaboration, the intended manuscript was never completed.
In 1996, Alan Govenar, a respected writer, folklorist, photographer, and filmmaker, began a conversation with Oliver about the unfinished book on Texas blues. Subsequently, Oliver invited Govenar to assist him, and when Oliver became ill, Govenar enlisted folklorist and ethnomusicologist Kip Lornell to help him contextualize and document the existing manuscript for publication.
The Blues Come to Texas: Paul Oliver and Mack McCormick’s Unfinished Book presents an unparalleled view into the minds and methods of two pioneering blues scholars.
Recenzijos
It is most unlikely that such a huge and detailed amount of field work as the core of such a monumental study on Texas blues will ever be repeated...Highly recommend for any folklorist, historian or blues researcher" - jive-talk.com, May 2020
Paul Oliver (19272017) was professor at Oxford Brookes University, a leading authority on blues history, and author of a score of books on blues and vernacular architecture.
Robert ""Mack"" McCormick (19302015) was a folklorist and blues researcher widely acclaimed for his field interviews, liner notes, and recordings with Texas blues musicians.
Alan B. Govenar is the author of Texas Blues: The Rise of a Contemporary Sound, Everyday Music, and other titles. He is a member of the Texas Institute of Letters and currently resides in Dallas, Texas.
Kip Lornell teaches courses in American music and ethnomusicology at George Washington University. His most recent book (with Anne Rasmusen) is Musics of Multicultural America. He resides in Silver Spring, Maryland.
