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Father Of The Blues: An Autobiography
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317 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1985
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December 5, 2025
Put on my blue suede shoes
And I boarded the plane
Touched down in the land of the delta blues
In the middle of the pouring rain
WC Handy, won't you look down over me?
----- Matc Cohn, Walking in Memphis
When this extremely goose-bumpy song hit the airwaves in 1991, I had yet to be introduced to the world of MTV, but used to rely on BBC's programmes on my transistor. Though, I had heard Elvis, thanks to my Late Father, the name WC Handy failed to make a connection, until the turn of the century, when I was introduced to the Delta Blues, and it has remained my favourite genre since.
The scene is Tutwiler, Mississippi, a waylaid station in the year 1903, when WC Handy as a composer was waiting for his train, which had already been delayed by some hours. It was then he caught sight of an Afro-American, who was in rags with toes jutting out of torn shoes and playing a bottleneck (the name bottleneck entered the vocabulary much later) guitar by pressing a knife against the strings and singing in the most mournful vocals -
"Goin' where the Southern Cross' the Dog".
The lines sung over and over again referred to the junction of the Southern Railway and the Yazoo and Mississippi Delta railroads, nicknamed the "Yellow Dog" line. It was this moment when the Blues as the original American sound must have been born, even if the style has existed before, the experience that Handy had upon hearing this sound impacted him spiritually to such an extent that he decided to defect to the Mississippi Delta and explore the music of the region that eventually became a genre unto itself. Sadly though, the name of the singer at Tutwiler was never recorded. The experience led Handy to write three of him most famous compositions, viz. The Memphis Blues, St. Louis Blues and The Yellow Dog Blues, and catapulted the humble Handy to the designation of "Father of the Blues".
The moaning, mournful and plaintive song he heard at Tutwiler accompanied on a guitar tuned to an open chord to facilitate rhythm and melody lines simultaneously burst forth an angst-laden urgency that might appear to be apocryphal to most historians of Blues, but is actually anything but that. Handy, undoubtedly must have heard itinerant musicians of the class he encountered at Tutwiler, or on any of his sojourns in the deep south, this occupied a pivotal status just as Robert Johnson's encounter with the Devil at the Crossroads, where the Devil tinted Johnson's guitar, and there wasn't any looking back thereafter for the Bluesman (although Johnson wasn't the first to sign the deadly with the devil!).
Unlike the spiritual, Blues was a single-man affair which echoed the singer's expression in a single verse, devoid of any choral expression. Blues originated in the early 1900s amongst the Afro-American workers who toiled in the cotton plantation in the deep south. The verses were repeated till a resolving lines was pressed into the lyrical format that was mostly cathartic of resignation to the fate. This simplicity was the fecund ground for improvisation. One such example is Handy's improvisation of the 12-bar format. This eventually became the standard 12-measure chord progression typically using three chords based on the First (I), Fourth (IV), and Fifth (V) notes of a scale. A common structure is for measures of I, two measures of IV, two measures of I, and then for measures alternating between the V, IV, I and V chords. Handy's St. Louis Blues from 1914 uses this 12-measure.
Handy's fame to immortality was thanks to his moving to Memphis and sustain for the city's Mayoral and febrile politics. But in here, WC saw the perfect opportunity to raise his band raise the real issues of concerns for the Memphians. This is when he adopted Blues format to reach out to the electorate, and turning to embracing the Blues proved worthy of the initiative as the musical forum by then had been deeply rooted and embedded in the deep south. The band was contracted by EH Crump to publicize the latter's interests. This commissioning proved serendipitous as the musical canvassing not only helped Crump win the Mayoral position, but set in motion the boogie format and consequently a series of compositions containing the word 'blues' in them titularly.
The autobiographical sketch tells of an orthodox believing family that considered any strong instrument as a Devil's tool, and this forced WC Handy to go Choral in his early school days. His father, who served the Church, when many years later heard the phenomenal success WC gained for his inimitable musical calibre finally accepted the choice of his son's profession, and is a moving tribute in the book. So is his mother's role, who strongly stood by her son. But, in a melancholic section, WC was shattered when he couldn't make it on time to see his mother alive despite being telegrammed about her ill health. From school days to on road escapades, and never leaving sight of the musical journey along the way to his meeting with his future wife and crossing the borders into Mexico, Canada and the sea into Cuba is a didactic journey into accomplishing the musical finesse he later came to be associated with. His indulgence into business, flip-flopping, sometimes without credit to his songs, and sometimes credited to someone else with slightly changed lyrics, didn't kill the instinct for writing new songs. If Memphis Blues, or Crump didnt sail good enough, St. Louis Blues was a monster hit that sailed worldwide.
A close reading of the autobiography is suggestive of the fact that WC wasn't even a Bluesman to begin with. He was a cornetist before Jazz made its distinctive sound. He began his musical journey with the Minstrels, the seeds of which were shown in Handy's hometown of Florence in Alabama. Trained to be a school teacher, WC answered his true calling, but his career and subsequent status was never short of some of the bitterest criticism. A great imposter, who couldn't prove anything in music that he created, possibly took advantage of some unprotected material that floated around, or even the dastardly act of having accepted the sobriquet, "Father of the Blues", and "Father of Jazz" without any sobriety has fuelled the fading of a true legend, be it from the quarters of music or press or even literature. But, Handy himself admitted that the Blues is born of several mothers and fathers, most of which are lost in time. These statements, however do not take from WC the contributions he made, be that in the form of seeking Blues as sheet music, or archiving the folk-culture of the US that would surely have been lost, but for his diligence. The Beale Street revivalism where the composer seems to animate the famed avenue is at best the composer from the heart. The folklorist, cultural icon, visionary composer and the pioneering entrepreneur said this,
"I am thankful for being a part of the oppressed oppressed race... And through adversity was cast down amongst the lowly. And took out of their hearts a song that caught the wings of the morning and fell on the world's weary ear. And then found a place to comfort and cheer the heart of humanity."
William Christopher Handy breathed his last on the 28th of March 1958 in New York. The cause was bronchial pneumonia. He lies buried in Bronx. His autobiographical sketch got inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in the category of Blues Literature in 2017, and is obviously the tightest fit for the bill. A definitive read for Blues and Jazz fans, as well as those keen on the post independence war in America.
And I boarded the plane
Touched down in the land of the delta blues
In the middle of the pouring rain
WC Handy, won't you look down over me?
----- Matc Cohn, Walking in Memphis
When this extremely goose-bumpy song hit the airwaves in 1991, I had yet to be introduced to the world of MTV, but used to rely on BBC's programmes on my transistor. Though, I had heard Elvis, thanks to my Late Father, the name WC Handy failed to make a connection, until the turn of the century, when I was introduced to the Delta Blues, and it has remained my favourite genre since.
The scene is Tutwiler, Mississippi, a waylaid station in the year 1903, when WC Handy as a composer was waiting for his train, which had already been delayed by some hours. It was then he caught sight of an Afro-American, who was in rags with toes jutting out of torn shoes and playing a bottleneck (the name bottleneck entered the vocabulary much later) guitar by pressing a knife against the strings and singing in the most mournful vocals -
"Goin' where the Southern Cross' the Dog".
The lines sung over and over again referred to the junction of the Southern Railway and the Yazoo and Mississippi Delta railroads, nicknamed the "Yellow Dog" line. It was this moment when the Blues as the original American sound must have been born, even if the style has existed before, the experience that Handy had upon hearing this sound impacted him spiritually to such an extent that he decided to defect to the Mississippi Delta and explore the music of the region that eventually became a genre unto itself. Sadly though, the name of the singer at Tutwiler was never recorded. The experience led Handy to write three of him most famous compositions, viz. The Memphis Blues, St. Louis Blues and The Yellow Dog Blues, and catapulted the humble Handy to the designation of "Father of the Blues".
The moaning, mournful and plaintive song he heard at Tutwiler accompanied on a guitar tuned to an open chord to facilitate rhythm and melody lines simultaneously burst forth an angst-laden urgency that might appear to be apocryphal to most historians of Blues, but is actually anything but that. Handy, undoubtedly must have heard itinerant musicians of the class he encountered at Tutwiler, or on any of his sojourns in the deep south, this occupied a pivotal status just as Robert Johnson's encounter with the Devil at the Crossroads, where the Devil tinted Johnson's guitar, and there wasn't any looking back thereafter for the Bluesman (although Johnson wasn't the first to sign the deadly with the devil!).
Unlike the spiritual, Blues was a single-man affair which echoed the singer's expression in a single verse, devoid of any choral expression. Blues originated in the early 1900s amongst the Afro-American workers who toiled in the cotton plantation in the deep south. The verses were repeated till a resolving lines was pressed into the lyrical format that was mostly cathartic of resignation to the fate. This simplicity was the fecund ground for improvisation. One such example is Handy's improvisation of the 12-bar format. This eventually became the standard 12-measure chord progression typically using three chords based on the First (I), Fourth (IV), and Fifth (V) notes of a scale. A common structure is for measures of I, two measures of IV, two measures of I, and then for measures alternating between the V, IV, I and V chords. Handy's St. Louis Blues from 1914 uses this 12-measure.
Handy's fame to immortality was thanks to his moving to Memphis and sustain for the city's Mayoral and febrile politics. But in here, WC saw the perfect opportunity to raise his band raise the real issues of concerns for the Memphians. This is when he adopted Blues format to reach out to the electorate, and turning to embracing the Blues proved worthy of the initiative as the musical forum by then had been deeply rooted and embedded in the deep south. The band was contracted by EH Crump to publicize the latter's interests. This commissioning proved serendipitous as the musical canvassing not only helped Crump win the Mayoral position, but set in motion the boogie format and consequently a series of compositions containing the word 'blues' in them titularly.
The autobiographical sketch tells of an orthodox believing family that considered any strong instrument as a Devil's tool, and this forced WC Handy to go Choral in his early school days. His father, who served the Church, when many years later heard the phenomenal success WC gained for his inimitable musical calibre finally accepted the choice of his son's profession, and is a moving tribute in the book. So is his mother's role, who strongly stood by her son. But, in a melancholic section, WC was shattered when he couldn't make it on time to see his mother alive despite being telegrammed about her ill health. From school days to on road escapades, and never leaving sight of the musical journey along the way to his meeting with his future wife and crossing the borders into Mexico, Canada and the sea into Cuba is a didactic journey into accomplishing the musical finesse he later came to be associated with. His indulgence into business, flip-flopping, sometimes without credit to his songs, and sometimes credited to someone else with slightly changed lyrics, didn't kill the instinct for writing new songs. If Memphis Blues, or Crump didnt sail good enough, St. Louis Blues was a monster hit that sailed worldwide.
A close reading of the autobiography is suggestive of the fact that WC wasn't even a Bluesman to begin with. He was a cornetist before Jazz made its distinctive sound. He began his musical journey with the Minstrels, the seeds of which were shown in Handy's hometown of Florence in Alabama. Trained to be a school teacher, WC answered his true calling, but his career and subsequent status was never short of some of the bitterest criticism. A great imposter, who couldn't prove anything in music that he created, possibly took advantage of some unprotected material that floated around, or even the dastardly act of having accepted the sobriquet, "Father of the Blues", and "Father of Jazz" without any sobriety has fuelled the fading of a true legend, be it from the quarters of music or press or even literature. But, Handy himself admitted that the Blues is born of several mothers and fathers, most of which are lost in time. These statements, however do not take from WC the contributions he made, be that in the form of seeking Blues as sheet music, or archiving the folk-culture of the US that would surely have been lost, but for his diligence. The Beale Street revivalism where the composer seems to animate the famed avenue is at best the composer from the heart. The folklorist, cultural icon, visionary composer and the pioneering entrepreneur said this,
"I am thankful for being a part of the oppressed oppressed race... And through adversity was cast down amongst the lowly. And took out of their hearts a song that caught the wings of the morning and fell on the world's weary ear. And then found a place to comfort and cheer the heart of humanity."
William Christopher Handy breathed his last on the 28th of March 1958 in New York. The cause was bronchial pneumonia. He lies buried in Bronx. His autobiographical sketch got inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in the category of Blues Literature in 2017, and is obviously the tightest fit for the bill. A definitive read for Blues and Jazz fans, as well as those keen on the post independence war in America.
June 4, 2011
Some of the stories, particularly of Handy's life before he hit the big time, are interesting and told with a fine sense of humor. The chapter with Handy's take on ASCAP and copyright law circa 1940 was interesting also. Other parts of the book ramble on listing performers & music I've never heard of.
Handy's attitude toward black vs. white performers of the blues and his disdain for swing make for slightly uncomfortable reading. I also find it odd that he talks about how you can't feel it if you haven't lived it, yet most of the performances he talks about are of orchestras or bands playing from musical scores, not self taught musicians playing their own songs or bands playing head arrangements.
Handy's attitude toward black vs. white performers of the blues and his disdain for swing make for slightly uncomfortable reading. I also find it odd that he talks about how you can't feel it if you haven't lived it, yet most of the performances he talks about are of orchestras or bands playing from musical scores, not self taught musicians playing their own songs or bands playing head arrangements.
September 20, 2020
This came in a pile of donations; I'm more familiar with the effect Handy's work as the first major blues songwriter had on other performers than I am with his music itself, though "St. Louis Blues" has enchanted me as it has so many others across the last century. His memoir is nonetheless an intriguing portrait of the music industry in its infancy, written in 1941 in the midst of the ASCAP ban on radio work, which it describes (and advocates) at some length. Handy also delves into the racism he and his peers experienced in the early part of the 20th century. It's quite surreal to experience someone basically referring to Louis Armstrong as the face of youth, the stuff "the kids" are into. Like most music memoirs, the book is most interesting before Handy "makes it," though he has a few rough patches even after reaching the peak of his magnitude. It's not a book I'm likely to revisit but its firsthand glance at music copyright as it existed at this point makes for a fascinating (and not wholly alien!) companion to what goes on today in the streaming era.
April 10, 2022
I like this, Handy's stories are cool, and as a musician who plays & educates about his music, this is a great "behind the scenes" look at the songs. Most people seem to agree, the first part is the best, the last third has some dull moments but it's worth reading for the good stuff. The stories about performing with a traveling show and growing up in the south are priceless.
January 3, 2024
I really enjoyed the first half of the book, but it really started to drag during the second half.
January 5, 2026
This provided an informative look at the life of musician/publisher W.C. Handy, his travels and accomplishments, and inspirational philosophies on life.
April 10, 2012
There is value in the first person recount of an important phase of american music. But all too often Handy descends into listing artists and events without giving much attention to the world around them.
March 24, 2017
Before there were selfies and Facebook updates, there were memoirs like this one where the voice of the author is authentic and the story of his life is told with humility and honesty. I loved it. I loved learning about the places in Handy's life that became touchstones for how this Alabama native intersected with music and how the music around him informed his life and in doing so moved him to validate with his own spirit and craft the genre of music called "the blues." Handy's life story is about more than the blues, however. He was an early performer in the now controversial minstrel shows, traveled on steamboats like Mark Twain and Louis Armstrong, and was an innovative businessman, establishing with his colleague Harry Pace a music company in New York that will celebrate it's 100th anniversary next year--still existing on the Avenue of the Americas after all this time. Of course, my interest in Handy's life was triggered by Nat King Cole playing Handy in the movie titled after Handy's most famous song: "St Louis Blues." And, no, I didn't just read this book--I just finished reading it for the second time. It's that good.
January 21, 2018
This book could basically be divided into two parts: before fame and after fame. The stories before fame are so much more interesting than the latter.
The first half of the book deals with Handy’s upbringing and early adventures, including interesting stories while hoboing around. Learning about the background of his famous compositions, such as learning phrases for St. Louis Blues by a rambling woman, is awesome. Stories of his minstrel days are beyond interesting. The art of minstrelsy in the early 1900s is very complicated, so it is important to learn directly from someone like Handy. Learning real stories about serious racism was heartbreaking. For blues nerds, the musical discussions of the transitioning country blues into the compositional blues that Handy popularized it super neat.
The second half of the book is about his later days, which has interesting points, but most of it includes name dropping of famous people who aren’t as interesting or relevant in modern times. Reading about a star studded concert or parade (again and again and again) just doesn’t pique my interest at all.
For people interested in early compositional blues/jazz, early art in America, or turn of the century African American life, it’s very worth at least reading the first part of this book.
The first half of the book deals with Handy’s upbringing and early adventures, including interesting stories while hoboing around. Learning about the background of his famous compositions, such as learning phrases for St. Louis Blues by a rambling woman, is awesome. Stories of his minstrel days are beyond interesting. The art of minstrelsy in the early 1900s is very complicated, so it is important to learn directly from someone like Handy. Learning real stories about serious racism was heartbreaking. For blues nerds, the musical discussions of the transitioning country blues into the compositional blues that Handy popularized it super neat.
The second half of the book is about his later days, which has interesting points, but most of it includes name dropping of famous people who aren’t as interesting or relevant in modern times. Reading about a star studded concert or parade (again and again and again) just doesn’t pique my interest at all.
For people interested in early compositional blues/jazz, early art in America, or turn of the century African American life, it’s very worth at least reading the first part of this book.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews