According to co-host Charles Peterson, the blues is “as American as apple pie and as Black as the Funky Chicken.” The blues is a genre of music, to be sure, but it’s also an emotion, perhaps even an existential bearing. What makes blues music distinctive? What does it mean to have “the blues”? Can everyone have or play the blues? Should everyone?

In this episode, the HBS co-hosts discuss these questions (and more!) with Dr. Charles L. Hughes, Director of the The Lynne and Henry Turley Memphis Center | Rhodes College, where he designs courses, programs, and partnerships. His acclaimed first book, Country Soul: Making Music and Making Race in the American South was named one of the Best Music Books of 2015 by Rolling Stone and No Depression, one of Paste Magazine’s Best Nonfiction Books of the Year, and one of Slate’s “Overlooked Books” of 2015. He has published essays and given numerous talks in front of a range of audiences, including featured engagements at the Center for Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina, and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Library & Archives. He is currently working on a book about the history of African-Americans and professional wrestling in the United States, as well as several articles. He is a voter for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and a participant in the Nashville Scene’s Year-End Country Music Poll. His most recent book is Why Bushwick Bill Matters.

BONUS: this episode comes with its own Spotify playlist!

Below are helpful links to authors, texts, songs, etc. referenced in our conversation:

• 12 bar blues
• Corey Harris, Mississippi to Mali (album, 2003)
• Ralph Ellison, “The Blues” (The New York Review, 1964)
• Albert Murray, Stomping the Blues (1976)
• Dolly Parton, “Coat of Many Colors” (YouTube)
• Howlin’ Wolf, “Down in The Bottom” (YouTube)
• Lee Atwater Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story – Official Trailer
• George H. W. Bush campaign’s “Willie Horton” ad

If you enjoy  listening to Hotel Bar Sessions podcast, please be sure to subscribe, submit a rating/review, and follow us on Twitter @hotelbarpodcast and Facebook!

You can also help keep this podcast ad-free by supporting us financially on our Patreon page. We have several different levels of support available and every little bit helps!