University of Illinois Press Blues All Day Long: The Jimmy Rogers Story (Music in American Life)

A member of Muddy Waters' legendary late 1940s-1950s band, Jimmy Rogers pioneered a blues guitar style that made him one of the most revered sidemen of all time. Rogers also had a significant if star-crossed career as a singer and solo artist for Chess Records, releasing the classic singles "That's All Right" and "Walking By Myself."   In Blues All Day Long, Wayne Everett Goins mines seventy-five hours of interviews with Rogers' family, collaborators, and peers to follow a life spent in the blues. Goins' account takes Rogers from recording Chess classics and barnstorming across the South to a late-in-life renaissance that included new music, entry into the Blues Hall of Fame, and high profile tours with Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones. Informed and definitive, Blues All Day Long fills a gap in twentieth century music history with the story of one of the blues' eminent figures and one of the genre's seminal bands. Review "Wayne Everett Goins hasn't simply written a long-overdue biographical portrait of one of modern blues' most influential and gifted stylists; he's given us the context as well, with vivid, indelibly limned vignettes. . . . It brings to life not just musical history, but the feel, flavor and emotional resonance of the times during which this history was lived."-- Living Blues "Jimmy Rogers was the most under-appreciated of all the postwar Chicago blues pioneers--until now. Deep, heartfelt, and immaculately researched, Blues All Day Long sets the record straight. A major contribution to blues lore." --Jas Obrecht, former editor, Guitar Player magazine “ Blues All Day Long is suffused with the same spirit as Rogers’ style of guitar-playing: tasteful, relaxed and stylish. . . . A mature and worthy biography."-- De Blueskrant "A great read. I loved it. What a nice tribute to the great Jimmy Rogers." --Charlie Musselwhite   "Great work. Long, long overdue."--Taj Mahal "For blues aficionados, Goins provides a wealth of information on one of the underacknowledged masters of the Chicago sound."-- Kirkus From the Author Wayne Everett Goins is a professor of music and director of jazz at Kansas State University. He is author of Pat Metheny's Secret Story and co-author of Charlie Christian: Jazz Guitar's King of Swing. "Goins gleans fresh facts and vivid memories from dozens of lively interviews to capture the energy and struggles of the Chicago Blues scene, from Maxwell Street to the Chess Records studios. . . . engrossing."-- Booklist About the Author Wayne Everett Goins is a professor of music and director of jazz at Kansas State University. He is the author of Pat Metheny's Secret Story and co-author of Charlie Christian: Jazz Guitar's King of Swing.