Goin' Back to Sweet Memphis

Memphis, Tennessee, is a major crossroads for blues musicians, songs and styles. This work tells the story of the blues in Memphis through previously unpublished interviews with nine performers who helped create and sustain the music from the days before its commercial success in the 1970s. Their attitudes, experiences, and insights impart a deeper understanding of the blues aesthetic and philosophy. Some of the interviewees were singing and performing mostly for white blues/folk revivalist audiences by the 1970s; others, such as Joe Willie Wilkins and Houston Stackhouse, continued to perform mostly for black audiences in Memphis and in the small cafes that dotted the Mississippi delta. Each interview is illustrated by noted printmaker George D. Davidson and introduced with a biographical sketch by Fred J. Hay. Together these materials document and pay tribute to the remarkable richness of the Memphis blues scene.