Time in the Blues

Abstract

Time in the Blues presents an interdisciplinary analysis of the specific forms of temporality produced by and reflected in the blues. Often described as immediate, spontaneous, and intense, the blues focus on the present moment, creating an experience of time for both performer and listener that is inflected by the material conditions that gave rise to the genre. Examining time as it is represented, enacted, and experienced through the blues engages questions concerning how material conditions in the early twentieth century shaped a musical genre. The formal characteristics of the blues—ostinato patterns, cyclical changes, improvisation, call and response—emerge from and speak to economic, social, and political relations under Jim Crow segregation. A close examination of the structuring of time under sharecropping, convict lease, and migration reveals their significance to aesthetic constraints in the blues. Likewise, contexts and frames of reception, such as traveling shows, advertisements for 78 rpm records, and a sense of tradition structure the experience of time for an audience of listeners. Blues music provides a rich and complex articulation of a dynamic form of resonant temporality that speaks against the dominant culture through its insistence on the present moment. Ultimately, Time in the Blues, argues for the relevance, significance, and importance of time in the blues for shared values of community and a vision of social justice.

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