Give My Poor Heart Ease: Voices of the Mississippi Blues,   ISBN:9780807833254

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Professor William Ferris, a folklorist throughout the 1960s and 1970s, toured his home state of Mississippi, documenting the voices of African Americans while they spoke about and performed the diverse musical traditions which are the authentic roots of the blues. This book puts forward a selection of the artistically and very rich voices from this invaluable documentary record. The book features more than twenty interviews relating frank, dramatic and engaging narratives about black life and blues music in the heart of the American South.

In this volume are stories of artists who have long memories and speak in an eloquent way about their lives, and blues musicians representing a wide range of musical traditions. These selections are concerned with one strand instruments, bottle-blowing and banjo to spirituals, hymns, and prison work changes. The reader is guided through such celebrities as B.B. King and Willie Dixon, along with performers known best in their neighborhoods, expressing the full range of human and artistic experience which were joyful and gritty, raw and painful.

In an autobiographic introduction, William Ferris, who is Joel R. Williamson Eminent Professor of History and Senior Associate Director of the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, reflects on how he fell in love with the vibrant blues culture that was all around him, but considered off limits to a white Mississipian in a very troubled era. This beautiful study illuminates blues music, the broader African American experience and certainly the history and culture of America itself.

Blues and jazz readers should be aware that the stories in this volume are America's most treasured gifts to the world. These powerful stories bring us face to face with the blues, reminding us that this music has been used to survive while in the face of adversity and terror.

This book should entertain all those interested in the blues by the selections which are joyous, powerful and authentic.

Reviewed by Claude Ury

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This is an essential book for blues lovers. It traces the birth of Mississippi Delta blues, arguably the birthplace of American blues. There is an extended section on the influence of prisoners who were in Parchman Farm prison, made immortal by a song by Mose Allison years later. I highly recommend it.

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Kudos to William Ferris for this book. It is clearly a labor of love for him. I was drawn to this work after hearing Ferris in an 10 minute long NPR piece on "All Things Considered" (see/hear at [...]). As a young student Ferris visited backwoods towns along US61 from Memphis south to the LA border. He documents the unknown blues singers he met along the way. And he tells about his long-standing friendship with the legendary BB King fantastic stories! The book is accompanied with a CD of collected music and a DVD documenting his finds.

If you are a fan of Blues performed by the black inventors of the art form, then read/hear the NPR clip and I predict you will find this book to be a "must have"!

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Muddy Waters: Live on TourThe Howlin' Wolf Story - The Secret History of Rock & RollThe Essential Albert King: A Step-by-Step Breakdown of the Styles and Techniques of a Blues and Soul LegendThe Best of Peter Green's Fleetwood MacThe Essential Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double TroubleJimi Hendrix: BluesThe Complete RecordingsFounder of the Delta BluesThe Original Delta BluesBlind Willie Johnson and the Guitar EvangelistsBlowin' the BluesAlligator Records 20th Anniversary CollectionThe book is a real treasure, if you're a hard core blues fan or just plain want to catch an intimate view of one of America's most important musical creations. It is written by a true scholar of this genre that was the foundation of both jazz and rock and roll. This is not just another large magazine but rather a spot on look at the fore runners of all that is today's music here and certainly in the UK. All of the super bands like the Rolling Stones, the Who, Jimi Hendrix, and so many others mined the simple 9 part scale and created an industry. Mr. Ferris is first a foremost a folklorist with many books under his southern belt. He edited "The Encyclopedia of Southern Culture" an enormous undertaking and a must have. It comes as little surprise that president Clinton appointed him as National Chairman for the Endowment of the Humanities. I'm from Chicago where the Mississippi delta blues transformed in to electric Blues of Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf and Buddy Guy. This latest book somehow captures the delta where Mr. Ferris is from.