Raw and untamed in its sound, performed by larger-than-life characters who might have popped out of fiction, and shrouded in a (often self-mythologizing) mystery, it's no wonder that the Delta blues attract such interest and scholarship, and is lauded as the most "true" distillation of the genre.
Combining history, sociology, biography, and analysis, musician/author Ted Gioia has produced perhaps the definitive book on the subject, just detailed enough for the hardcore fans and just accessib
