Son House
Preachin’ the Blues
€6.40
DOWNLOADABLE E-BOOK
Immediately available to your e-mail
Son House didn’t invent the blues, but he made it holler in a way no one else quite could. This richly detailed, sharp-witted biography brings the legendary Delta bluesman roaring back to life – not as a dusty historical figure or museum piece, but as a fire-breathing, guitar-sliding, sermon-shouting force of nature. From the shotgun shacks of Mississippi to the coffeehouses of the folk revival, this book traces Son House’s journey through a century of American music with energy, humor, and unflinching honesty.
Written with a lively, conversational tone and a deep respect for the messy truth of things, the narrative follows House from his early days as a Baptist preacher with a skeptical ear for blues, through his reluctant transformation into one of its most haunting voices. We meet the friends, rivals, and fellow travelers – Charley Patton, Willie Brown, Alan Lomax – who shaped and shadowed his path. We witness the legendary 1930 Paramount recordings in a makeshift Wisconsin studio, the long decades of silence working odd jobs in upstate New York, and the astonishing rediscovery that pulled him back onto stages and into the spotlight in his sixties.
Far from a dry retelling, this is a portrait alive with anecdotes, contradictions, and that Son House voice – gravel, gospel, and grit in equal measure. It revels in the folklore and cuts through the myth, placing House not just in the context of blues history, but as its living nerve. Through vivid storytelling, the book captures his music’s wild edges, its raw phrasing, its spiritual tug-of-war, and its strange, stubborn survival across generations and genres.
Also included is a carefully curated appendix: a full timeline of House’s life, a selected discography, collaboration highlights, awards and recognitions, and a deep dive into his gear and technique – warts, bottlenecks, and all. A final section gathers verses from House’s own songs, letting his unmistakable voice close the book in his own words.
This ebook is for anyone who’s ever heard a slide guitar moan and felt the hair rise on their neck. It’s for blues newcomers, music historians, and longtime fans who want more than just facts – they want to sit on the porch, hear the stories, and feel the stomp of a boot shaking the floorboards. Honest, unsentimental, and frequently playful, it’s a tribute to a man whose music never asked for permission – and never needed to.