Hoodoo Blues

Hoodoo Blues is a Role Playing Game of supernatural beliefs from America's Old South. Players play the ageless, those who have lived through (sometimes suffered through) decades or centuries of Southern history.

In 1973, Jack Cooper, a college student in Ann Arbor, is given the guitar that, unknown to him, Robert Johnson had taken to the crossroads in the 1930s. It was there that the Devil played it. And it still has that evil mojo. Jack begins to have visions of the Mississippi Delta in the 1930s. Meanwhile, Darlene, a high school senior and track athlete in Greenville, Mississippi, discovers that her mother is the daughter of Robert Johnson and sees a vision of her grandfather. At the same time, a tough guy from Detroit is hunting desperately for the guitar. Jack struggles with loss and addiction while Darlene tries to unravel her family history. The lives of these three wind through Memphis, where Gibby, an ex-Tuskegee airman and Mama Zaffara, a Hoodoo woman, try to help. Darlene, with her boyfriend Ben in tow, and Jack with his odd partner, Gibby, make their way to the Mississippi Delta in the wake of Hoodoo revelations, and murder to try to find the crossroad and break the curse of the guitar. Along the way, we step further back in time to the enigmatic life of Robert Johnson in the 1930s, and the historic Freeman Field Mutiny of 1945.

“Reveals the stories and legends of conjurers and healers from the arrival of African slaves on Memphis plantations to blues musicians on Beale Street.” —Preston Lauterbach, author of Beale Street Dynasty Widely known for its musical influence, Beale Street was also once a hub for Hoodoo culture. Many blues icons, such as Big Memphis Ma Rainey and Sonny Boy Williamson, dabbled in the mysterious tradition. Its popularity in some African American communities over the past two centuries fueled racial tension—practitioners faced social stigma and blame for anything from natural disasters to violent crimes. However, necessity sometimes outweighed prejudice, and even those with the highest social status turned to Hoodoo for prosperity, love, or retribution. In this book, Tony Kail traces Memphis's colorful Hoodoo heritage from the arrival of Africans in Shelby County to the growth of conjure culture in juke joints and Spiritual Churches. Includes photographs

The first full-length authoritative Encyclopedia on the Blues as a musical form. A to Z in format, this work covers not only the performers, but also musical styles, regions, record labels and cultural aspects of the blues.

This comprehensive two-volume set brings together all aspects of the blues from performers and musical styles to record labels and cultural issues, including regional evolution and history. Organized in an accessible A-to-Z format, the Encyclopedia of the Blues is an essential reference resource for information on this unique American music genre. For a full list of entries, contributors, and more, visit the Encyclopedia of the Blues website.

The Blues Encyclopedia is the first full-length authoritative Encyclopedia on the Blues as a musical form. While other books have collected biographies of blues performers, none have taken a scholarly approach. A to Z in format, this Encyclopedia covers not only the performers, but also musical styles, regions, record labels and cultural aspects of the blues, including race and gender issues. Special attention is paid to discographies and bibliographies.

Blues is absolutely vital to black theological reflection and to the black church's existence. In Black Bodies and the Black Church , author Kelly Douglas Brown develops a blues crossroad theology, which allows the black church to remain true to itself and relevant in black lives.

Bitter the Chastening Rod follows in the footsteps of the first collection of African American biblical interpretation, Stony the Road We Trod (1991). Nineteen Africana biblical scholars contribute cutting-edge essays reading Jesus, criminalization, the enslaved, and whitened interpretations of the enslaved. They present pedagogical strategies for teaching, hermeneutics, and bible translation that center Black Lives Matter and black culture. Biblical narratives, news media, and personal stories intertwine in critical discussions of black rage, protest, anti-blackness, and mothering in the context of black precarity.

Collects almost five hundred entries that cover the African response to spirituality, taboos, ethics, sacred space, and objects.