The late Robert Palmer (the music critic, not the pop star!) takes readers on a truly unforgettable journey from Mississippi Delta cotton fields to Memphis and Chicago. Unsurprisingly, Clarksdale gets several mentions. This is a fast read, a memorable read, an essential read. Buy one for yourself and one as a gift for another lover of music or history. Seriously. - Roger Stolle, Cat Head
 
From the web: Blues is the cornerstone of American popular music, the bedrock of rock and roll. In this extraordinary musical and social history, Robert Palmer traces the odyssey of the blues from its rural beginnings, to the steamy bars of Chicago’s South Side, to international popularity, recognition, and imitation. Palmer tells the story of the blues through the lives of its greatest practitioners: Robert Johnson, who sang of being pursued by the hounds of hell; Muddy Waters, who electrified Delta blues and gave the music its rock beat; Robert Lockwood and Sonny Boy Williamson, who launched the King Biscuit Time radio show and brought blues to the airwaves; and John Lee Hooker, Ike Turner, B. B. King, and many others.