The Truman and Eisenhower Blues

Presents an account of the Gospel and blues music of the post-war period (1945-1960). The author studies over 300 songs, many of them rare recordings, from artists including Fats Domino, John Lee Hooker and B B King, and usefully transcribes 123 of them in their entirety.

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"The Truman and Eisenhower Blues" is a fascinating and exhaustive account of the Gospel and blues music of the post-war period (1945-1960). Guido van Rijn studies over 300 songs, many of them rare recordings, from artists including Fats Domino, John Lee Hooker and B. B. King, and usefully transcribes 123 of them in their entirety. Tapping sources which have previously been neglected by historians, musicologists and sociologists, he provides an illuminating examination of the themes at the heart of this Cold War music: the re-conversion, the atomic bomb, the Korean War, civil rights, Presidential elections, the economy and the space race. "The Truman and Eisenhower Blues" gives blues and Gospel fans a unique chance to understand what the artists were really singing about in their classic recordings from the late forties and fifties. This is a companion volume to the author's award-winning book "Roosevelt's Blues" (1997).