Well I wasn’t really sure what I should expect when I purchased this book. Although I am a fan of Holger’s radio shows and familiar with his ties to Stony Plain Records, CBC Radio, and CKUA I was tentative to imagine what weight a book of interviews would carry. Interviews can go badly, even well planned interactions can quickly head downhill. Things like poor rapport, bad timing, intrusive questioning can put an interviewee out of sorts and create awkwardness and even well laid interview questions can turn south. Of course, as a fan of Blues radio and Roots music I was optimistically hopeful as I opened Holger’s book pages and began to read.
What is Great about this Book
Only a few pages in I realize I am not only reading a collection of interviews but actually one of the best blues history books I might ever read as it is told from the history makers themselves. Holger’s interviews provide remarkable first hand accounts through personal dialogue with many of the greats in the Roots and Blues industry. Talking Music reads like a Blues family bible. The book is filled with intimate family ties linking musical influences from one musician to the next, and from town to city throughout the south and around the globe.
Chronicles told in ways as unique as the story tellers captivated me and I could hardly read in my eagerness to turn each page to know more of each Blues and Roots story.
Highlights
- Accounts such as the one Mick Fleetwood tells about his band mate Peter Green and the great Willie Dixon. “He took Peter off to places where white boys don’t go and Peter blew everyone away in these clubs and we were really accepted.”
- And later a glimpse into Duke Robillard’s proficiency. “I don’t even know how I learned to play the swing style that I play. I never really practiced it, I just listened to it so much that it just got into my head and came out of my fingers.”
The notable musicians interviewed by Holger Petersen in Talking Music share a rare and intimate window into Blues music royalty through their inspirational accounts from the interwoven folds of music history. This is the “Yellow Brick Road” of Blues and Roots stretching from the Delta to Newport and far beyond. Many of these influences as well as British Skiffle and American Jazz have laid the foundation for popular musical history makers and today’s up and coming Blues musicians. We learn through these interviews how pioneers had struggled to break ground that Blues players now pay homage to. Blues and Roots musicians talk of old songs that have been passed down from player to player, rewritten and redone since early slave songs and hobo blues were shared, yet always holding their original flavour.
Summary
Talking Music brings history from the dance halls, speak easy’s, back roar booze joints, and street corners and smoothly delivers it to the reader. Holger has done well to keep mostly on point with every interview. Talking Music is a treat to read for any true music fan and for every developing artist intent to carry on the flame of Blues radio and Roots music.
