UNIVERSITY OF DERBY REIMAGINING THE BLUES: A NEW NARRATIVE FOR 21ST CENTURY BLUES MUSIC Nigel James Martin Doctor of Philosophy 2019 Table of Contents Table of Contents................................................................................................................. i List of Figures .................................................................................................................... iv Declaration.......................................................................................................................... v Abstract .............................................................................................................................. vi Acknowledgements..........................................................................................................viii Introduction......................................................................................................................... 1 Aims and Objectives ................................................................................................... 1 Contribution ................................................................................................................ 2 A Note about Terminology ......................................................................................... 4 Chapter Outline........................................................................................................... 7 Contextual & Historical Framework......................................................................... 11 Chapter 1: Methodology ................................................................................................... 41 Ethnomusicology ...................................................................................................... 41 Ethnomusicology & Musicology .............................................................................. 44 Conceptual & Theoretical Frameworks .................................................................... 47 Cultural Identity, African-American Experience & Black Music ................ 47 Authenticity, Genre & The Commodification of Culture............................. 51 Semiotics, Intertextuality & Narratology...................................................... 56 Tradition & Music Revivalism ..................................................................... 62 Methods..................................................................................................................... 68 Online Ethnography ...................................................................................... 68 Live Listening Exercise (LLE) ..................................................................... 71 Interview ....................................................................................................... 76 Ethical Considerations .................................................................................. 79 Preliminary Studies....................................................................................... 79 Limitations & Scope ..................................................................................... 80 Chapter 2: Racial Politics and The Blues ......................................................................... 85 Introduction............................................................................................................... 85 A Brief Historical Overview of Racial Politics in America ..................................... 87 Orientalism, Power & Difference ............................................................................. 94 Cultural Memory, Identity & Diaspora..................................................................... 96 Nationalism, Transnationalism & Diaspora............................................................ 101 African-American Experience Today ..................................................................... 107 Black Music & Blackness....................................................................................... 109 The Blues ................................................................................................................ 114 Inventing, Searching and Collecting....................................................................... 116 White Blues?........................................................................................................... 122 Chapter 3: Blues Music and a Sense of Place in the 21st Century .................................. 127 Introduction............................................................................................................. 127 Anglo-American Tradition...................................................................................... 131 The Conflation of Anglo-American and African Traditions .................................. 132 Place in Categorisation and Stylistic Labelling ...................................................... 139 A Sense of Place - Origin, Displacement, and Authenticity................................... 144 i Place in Society....................................................................................................... 150 Chapter 4: Reimagining Popular Sound ......................................................................... 155 Introduction............................................................................................................. 155 Instrumentation ....................................................................................................... 159 Recording, Editing & Mixing ................................................................................. 166 Formats ................................................................................................................... 174 Distribution ............................................................................................................. 184 Chapter 5: De Stijl & Blues Authenticity ....................................................................... 189 Introduction............................................................................................................. 189 Authenticity of Expression ..................................................................................... 191 Instrumentation ............................................................................................... 192 Performance .................................................................................................... 194 Recording Techniques .................................................................................... 197 Authenticity of Experience ..................................................................................... 198 Authenticity of Execution ....................................................................................... 201 Chapter 6: Reimagining the Blues in Cleveland............................................................. 205 Introduction............................................................................................................. 205 General Features ..................................................................................................... 210 Form............................................................................................................ 210 Texture ........................................................................................................ 211 Tempo ......................................................................................................... 212 Harmony ..................................................................................................... 212 Audio Production & Mastering................................................................... 213 Musical Analysis..................................................................................................... 214 Lyrical Analysis ...................................................................................................... 225 Interphonography.................................................................................................... 232 Paraphonography & Metaphonography.................................................................. 234 The Intended Message ................................................................................ 235 Chapter 7: Reimagining Perceptions of the Blues in the 21st Century ........................... 239 Introduction............................................................................................................. 239 Response to Cleveland............................................................................................ 241 Contemporary Music and ‘The Blues’.................................................................... 250 I Only Lie When I Love You............................................................................ 250 Freedom .......................................................................................................... 252 Alabama .......................................................................................................... 256 Mad Man Blues ............................................................................................... 259 Blues Definitions in the 21st Century...................................................................... 262 YouTube & Prosthetic Memory.............................................................................. 266 Streaming ...............................................................................................................