"From the field hollers and ring shouts of nineteenth-century plantations to the electrified exploits of Delta expatriates like Muddy Waters and B. B. King, Delta Blues traces the stories of the blues, as raw and ragged as the singers themselves." "In this close examination of more than one hundred years of music in the Delta, Gioia draws on extensive fieldwork, archival research, interviews with living musicians, and first-person accounts to present a revealing narrative of the blues and the musicians who made them." "Delta Blues tells how such traditional, informal tunes came to exert a powerful influence on the popular music we enjoy today, and he traces the story from its African roots to the first classic recordings of the 1920s and 1930s to its later surprising revival." "Now anyone can hear this music, in recordings that for many years were hard to find and collectors' items. With this book, Gioia has carved a path for his reader, evoking the very soul of the Delta blues with musical descriptions so vivid that they conjure instantly the raw timbre of these timeless melodies. Like the music it celebrates, Delta Blues is to be savored long after the words have left the page."--BOOK JACKET.