Published By:
Lamont Jack Pearley
On this episode I speak with arthur and Blues Harp Musician Adam Gussow about his latest book Beyond The Crossroads, the ongoing dialog about Blues, the Church and the devil and the Myth of Robert Johnson.
Adam Gussow is an associate professor of English and Southern Studies. A member of the University of Mississippi faculty since 2002, his teaching and research interests include American and African American literature; blues, country, and other southern musics; the pastoral South; Freedom Summer; and the shaping role of race on southern culture. He has published four books: Mister Satan’s Apprentice: A Blues Memoir (Pantheon, 1998, reissued by Minnesota, 2009); Seems Like Murder Here: Southern Violence and the Blues Tradition (Chicago, 2002), winner of the Holman Award from the Society for the Study of Southern Literature; Journeyman’s Road: Modern Blues Lives From Faulkner’s Mississippi to Post-9/11 New York (Tennessee, 2007); and Busker’s Holiday, a novel (2015). Gussow’s articles and reviews have appeared in American Literature, African American Review, Southern Cultures, boundary 2, and many other publications. His newest book,Beyond the Crossroads: The Devil and the Blues Tradition, will be published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2017.
In addition to his academic credentials, Gussow is a professional blues harmonica player and teacher. As a member of the duo Satan and Adam for more than 30 years, he has played all the major blues, jazz, and folk festivals; toured internationally; recorded half a dozen CDs; and been featured on the cover of Living Blues magazine. He is the founder and creative director of Hill Country Harmonica, an annual event that brings several hundred blues harp players to north Mississippi for a long weekend of lectures, workshops, jam sessions, and concerts.
