One of the earliest recordings of Uncle Dave Macon in 1924 during his session in New York was ‘Hill Billie Blues’. It was the first song, according to Charles Wolfe – a country music historian – that carried the word ‘hillbilly’ in its title. Uncle Dave Macon (1870–1952) was an American banjo player, singer, songwriter, […]

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS : I express my sincere thanks for reading the draft of the article below and for forwarding me their observations to : – Michael Hawkeye Herman (http://www.hawkeyeherman.com/) – Thijmen Vonk (http://www.jazz-pianist.nl/) My honest thanks go also to Dr. John T. Tennison for pointing me to the very detailed and scholarly research that he already […]

In his article “The Blues as a Secular religion”, published in 1970 (1), Rod Gruver, musicologist, draws a comparison between Wagner’s version of Tristan and Isolde, premiered in Munich in 1865 and the blues. At first sight the idea is a weird one, a far-fetched comparison, but still… For a start, the music drama “Tristan […]

When we think about music, we think in the first place about entertainment. We mostly see music as serving a pleasure need. Music can also express pain, or can sooth, as when the mother sings a lullaby for her baby. Music is an intrinsic part of our daily lives; it can range from a simple […]