The Blues Line: A Collection of Blues Lyrics.

"... a many who makes a song has accomplished something of consequence." This, as Eric Sackheim states in the first paragraph of his introduction, is what The Blues Line is all about. It is an anthology of blues lyrics, a body of American Negro, song, which has never had a broader or more thorough presentation in print. Though heavily weighted to the so-called "country blues," the collection covers the whole spectrum of blues, from beginnings in Texas, the Mississippi delta, Alabama, and Georgia, as well as the female "city blues" singers of the mid-'20's, to later developments in such urban centers as Memphis, St. Louis and Chicago. It is difficult to think of many major blues singers whose work is not included among these 270 songs: from Blind Lemon Jefferson to Leadbelly and Lightning Hopkins; from Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith to Chippie Hill; from Willie McTell to Gary Davis; from Charlie Patton, Son House, Robert Johnson, Skip James, Booker White, Furry Lewis, Robert Wilkins, and Sleepy John Estes to Big Bill Broonzy, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and John Lee Hooker...the greatest names in blues are represented by their best and most typical performances, taken mostly from rare commercial recordings of the 1920's and '30's; for many of the major singers several songs are included, enough to project a clear image of the singer's artistic production as a whole.