BLUES AND THE WESTERN

Jamba juice, wonder bread, Steve Urklel, the federal highways, shopping malls.
The USA is often characterized as not having culture, when compared with other
cultures. As heinous a claim this is, the USA has (at least) two major contributions to
the world tapestry that is Culture; the blues and the western, two uniquely American
cultural wealth springs.
The goal of this course is to explore in depth the history and impact of the blues
and the western. Blues, the backbone of rocknroll, comes out of the spirituals and
Sorrow songs of the slaves that come in turn from various African tribal music. The
blues, among other things, sings of struggle and hardship, strives to express real life.
The western, in contrast (up until only recently), has been expressions of nationalist
rhetoric, fantasies of western expansion, and bogus portrayals of unrealistic masculinity
and racist portrayals of native peoples. What can reading these two uniquely
American cultural contributions tell us about our current culture? We will be asking the
questions how have the narratives in westerns changed over the decades, what
genres have both blues and westerns birthed, and why should we care about these
songs and films? This course will argue that stories and desires expressed in the
blues, and in the western, as well as the rhythms and melodies of the blues, cinematic
techniques of westerns, and professions of both over the years, are still relevant today.
A trait shared by the blues and westerns is a predominance of masculine
narrators, authors, protagonists, heroes, anti-heroes, singers and stars. This course will
approach the music and the film fully aware of its often sexism, misogyny and
exclusivity, able to critique it for this and other reasons, while still allowing appreciation
and against the grain readings/listenings.
We will rely on two textbooks (maybe?)
The Cambridge companion to blues and gospel music - Moore, Allan F. 2003
The American West in film : critical approaches to the Western - Tuska, Jon 1985
wk1 Then and Now
overview of course and introductions
1903 Sorrow Songs (from Souls of Black Folk) and The Great Train Robbery
2013 Give em What They Love - Janelle Mone (feat. Prince)
2001 The American Astronaut
wk 2 Oral Traditions/American Myths
where these stories come from
wk 3 Make up my dying bed
Early Gospel/Spirituals/Sorrow Songs

wk 4 Lead Belly and Hoo Doo Cowboys

country cross over in sight and sound
wk 5 Another Man Done Gone/Strange Fruit
violence and remembering
wk 6 Stag OLee Stagger Lee
the plasticity of narrative
wk 7 Dont Look Now
Blind Lemmon Jeffersons Texas Blues and the international western in Zatoichi
wk 8 Dont Look Now/Blue Eyed Soul
finish watching Zatoichi
Big Mamma Thorntons Hound Dog and Elvis
wk 9 Crossroads and Panoramas
ecology in blues and westerns (frontier)
wk 10 Old Time Religion
heathens and saviors
wk 11 the KKK took my baby away
racist portrayals in westerns
excerpts from:
geez, just pick one. They all fit the bill!
Within Our Gates versus The Birth of a Nation
wk 11 the KKK took my baby away cont.
musicians enter through the back door
Chuck Berry and country music
wk 12 Mississippi John Hurt
Sharecroppers and black cowboys
the folk festival and blues revival
wk 13 We built this city on rocknroll
the role of black labor in western productions & the genesis of rocknroll