Going Up the Country: Adventures in Blues Fieldwork in the 1960s

by Marina Bokelman, David Evans, Stephen Wade (Foreword by)

Overview

At the height of the blues revival, Marina Bokelman and David Evans, young graduate students from California, made two trips to Louisiana and Mississippi and short trips in their home state to do fieldwork for their studies at UCLA. While there, they made recordings and interviews and took extensive field notes and photographs of blues musicians and their families. Going Up the Country: Adventures in Blues Fieldwork in the 1960s presents their experiences in vivid detail through the field notes, the photographs, and the retrospective views of these two passionate researchers. Their notes and documentary photographs take the reader into the midst of memorable encounters with many obscure but no less important musicians, as well as blues legends. This volume is not only an adventure story, but also a scholarly discussion of fieldwork in folklore and ethnomusicology. In this enlightening book, Bokelman and Evans provide an exciting and honest portrayal of blues field research in the 1960s.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496841988
Publisher:	University Press of Mississippi
Publication date:	11/08/2022
Series:	American Made Music Series
Pages:	328
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Marina Bokelman (1942-2022) maintained a career as a practicing folklorist and a cappella ballad singer in her community in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Northern California. She received a grant from the California Arts Council to document the social and cultural life of that community and produced an educational folk music program for local community radio station KVMR.

David Evans is author of several books and other publications and productions on blues music and has received two Grammy Awards for Best Album Notes. Evans taught at California State University, Fullerton, and the University of Memphis, where he retired as professor of music emeritus.

Table of Contents

Foreword Stephen Wade xi

Preface David Evans xx

Chapter 1 Doing Blues Fieldwork David Evans 3

Chapter 2 Editing the Field Notes Marina Bokelman 13

Chapter 3 How to Look at the Photographs Marina Bokelman 15

Chapter 4 Before the Field: Marina's Story Marina Bokelman 24

Chapter 5 Before the Field: David's Story David Evans 40

Chapter 6 Blues Central Marina Bokelman 65

Chapter 7 Sometimes the Field Came to Us Marina Bokelman David Evans 69

Chapter 8 Going Up the Country: Field Notes from 1966 Marina Bokelman David Evans 78

Chapter 9 Home Field Advantage Marina Bokelman Davis Evans 146

Chapter 10 On the Road Again: Field Notes from 1967 Marina Bokelman David Evans 170

Chapter 11 After the Shield: Marina's Story Marina Bokelman 221

Chapter 12 After the Field: David's Story David Evans 241

Appendix: UCLA Background Sheet Marina Bokelman David Evans 256

Notes 260

Bibliography, Discography, and Archival Materials 267

List of Photographs 272

Index 282