What do you think?
Rate this book
Heroes of Blues, Jazz, and Country
Anyone who knows R. Crumb's work as an illustrator knows of his passion for music. And all those who collect his work prize the "Heroes of the Blues, Early Jazz Greats," and "Pioneers of Country Music" trading card sets he created in the early to- mid-1980s. Now they are packaged together for the first time in book form, along with an exclusive 21-track CD of music selected and compiled by Crumb himself (featuring original recordings by Charley Patton, "Dock" Boggs, "Jelly Roll" Morton, and others). A bio of each musician is provided, along with a full-color original illustration by the cartoonist. A characteristically idiosyncratic tribute by an underground icon to the musical innovators who helped inspire him, "R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country" is a must-have collection for Crumb aficionados, comics fans, and music lovers alike.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
33 people are currently reading
1096 people want to read
About the author
Robert Crumb
565 books531 followersRobert Dennis Crumb (born August 30, 1943)— is an American artist, illustrator, and musician recognized for the distinctive style of his drawings and his critical, satirical, subversive view of the American mainstream.
Crumb was a founder of the underground comix movement and is regarded as its most prominent figure. Though one of the most celebrated of comic book artists, Crumb's entire career has unfolded outside the mainstream comic book publishing industry. One of his most recognized works is the "Keep on Truckin'" comic, which became a widely distributed fixture of pop culture in the 1970s. Others are the characters "Devil Girl", "Fritz the Cat", and "Mr. Natural".
He was inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1991.
Crumb was a founder of the underground comix movement and is regarded as its most prominent figure. Though one of the most celebrated of comic book artists, Crumb's entire career has unfolded outside the mainstream comic book publishing industry. One of his most recognized works is the "Keep on Truckin'" comic, which became a widely distributed fixture of pop culture in the 1970s. Others are the characters "Devil Girl", "Fritz the Cat", and "Mr. Natural".
He was inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1991.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
February 6, 2017
Robert Crumb was a collector of 78s from his earliest childhood. If you haven't watched it, the biopsy treatment of Crumb in the movie of 1994 by Terry Zwigoff is an excellent place to start and learn more about this scandalous and yet ingenious comic book artist. In Heroes of Blues, Jazz, and Country (for which there is a CD included), he takes a page to describe many artists you may never have heard of but each of which had an incredible influence on American music in the 20th and now 21st century. Each biography is accompanied by a Crumb illustration of the artist. A must for lovers of music and fans of Crumb.
December 24, 2022
First designed and issued as a set of trading cards, Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country is an offbeat blend of artistry, nostalgia and anecdotal biographies. Crumb’s trademark caricature style is barely discernible in this respectfully rendered homage to the pioneers of these three uniquely American musical art forms.
*NOTE: Of the three genres (blues, jazz & country), blues musicians definitely had the best nicknames. Country music had the likes of “Dad” Crockett, “Red” Patterson, “Dock” Boggs, and “Fiddlin” Bob Larkin. Jazz pioneers included “Punch” Miller, “Muggsy” Spanier, “Fats” Waller, “Pops” Foster, “Wingy” Mannone, and “Jelly Roll” Morton. But dude... if you wanted to be cool, you had be a blues man: “Peg Leg” Howell, “Jaybird” Coleman, “Blind” Lemon Jefferson, “Bo-Weavil” Jackson, “Sleepy” John Estes, “Papa” Charlie Jackson, and (my personal favorite) “Barbecue” Bob Hicks.
*NOTE: Of the three genres (blues, jazz & country), blues musicians definitely had the best nicknames. Country music had the likes of “Dad” Crockett, “Red” Patterson, “Dock” Boggs, and “Fiddlin” Bob Larkin. Jazz pioneers included “Punch” Miller, “Muggsy” Spanier, “Fats” Waller, “Pops” Foster, “Wingy” Mannone, and “Jelly Roll” Morton. But dude... if you wanted to be cool, you had be a blues man: “Peg Leg” Howell, “Jaybird” Coleman, “Blind” Lemon Jefferson, “Bo-Weavil” Jackson, “Sleepy” John Estes, “Papa” Charlie Jackson, and (my personal favorite) “Barbecue” Bob Hicks.
June 19, 2024
Many think of Crumb as “that hippie cartoonist” but the man’s art has more depth than a simple cartoon and his interest in music is both wide and deep. I was interested in what Crumb would share of this knowledge in Heroes.
What we get from Crumb are thoughtful visualizations of his “heroes.” I didn’t do an exact count, but there are more than 100 of his illustrations. Most look to have been adaptations of photographs or record covers, but that is not a criticism since they are only the foundation for Crumb’s artistic interpretation.
My major problem with the book is the text which was written by Stephen Calt, David Jasen, and Richard Nevins. The information conveyed is often limited to a single paragraph and a note as to birth, birthplace, and death. These are significant people and, if you are interested in more, a better place to find it is Wikipedia.
However, my reason for buying the hard copy and giving this a high rating is that with the book comes Crumb’s choice of 21 key songs done by some of his greats including: Skip James, “Dock” Boggs, and “Jelly Roll” Morton’s Red Hot Peppers on a bonus CD. Great stuff!
3.99
What we get from Crumb are thoughtful visualizations of his “heroes.” I didn’t do an exact count, but there are more than 100 of his illustrations. Most look to have been adaptations of photographs or record covers, but that is not a criticism since they are only the foundation for Crumb’s artistic interpretation.
My major problem with the book is the text which was written by Stephen Calt, David Jasen, and Richard Nevins. The information conveyed is often limited to a single paragraph and a note as to birth, birthplace, and death. These are significant people and, if you are interested in more, a better place to find it is Wikipedia.
However, my reason for buying the hard copy and giving this a high rating is that with the book comes Crumb’s choice of 21 key songs done by some of his greats including: Skip James, “Dock” Boggs, and “Jelly Roll” Morton’s Red Hot Peppers on a bonus CD. Great stuff!
3.99
April 2, 2025
Fantastic book that looks at the forgotten pioneers that paved the road of popular music. I am a big RC fan; think he is one of the most underappreciated comic artists out there. His work crosses over to so many different areas. Would still love to see his take on Cthulhu Mythos - it would be such a stunning interpretation!
September 3, 2025
First and foremost I guess I should be pointing out that the ONLY reason for my rating of the 2006 music reference book R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country only being two stars and not three is because when I ordered R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country online it was sent to me WITHOUT the promised and expected audio disc (and which non inclusion has really and majorly negatively affected reading joy and pleasure for me, and that I would definitely ONLY recommend R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country with said accompanying compact disc).
Yes, I am familiar with ten or so of the thirty-six early jazz musicians author and illustrator Robert Crumb textually and visually presents to us readers in R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country, but that unfortunately, none of the blues and equally none of the country examples are actually, are in fact names even remotely known to me personally and that the combination in R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country of extremely basic and simplistic textual information (less than one page per described and showcased musician and never really all that much regarding biography, career choices, struggles etc.) and no bibliographic lists, no discographies for further reading and research either, this is all hugely frustrating in and of itself, as I was certainly wanting and also expecting considerably more textual meat so to speak from Robert Crumb's text for R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country. And most definitely, that missing, that unsent audio disc for R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country, it really just makes everything oh so so so much worse and as such much more all encompassingly annoying, since I certainly was looking forward to experiencing (and for the first time as well) early blues, early country music and those early jazz greats about whom I know nothing or only very little with that non existent CD.
Combined with the fact that while I do find Robert Crumb's accompanying portrait style pictures of the over one-hundred featured early blues, jazz and country musicians of R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country aesthetically wonderful (with a really nice realism/imagination mixture and a visually pretty appealingly delightful sense of colour), sorry, but I for one also both want and actually kind of even need not just drawn illustrations but also photographs, so that for me with R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country, a too simplistic textual treatment, no bibliographic references, nice artwork but sadly no photographs and the accompanying audio disc being totally and absolutely MIA so to speak, yes, I just cannot and will not consider more than two stars for R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country (although indeed, and as mentioned above, that with the CD, that if my copy of R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country were to include that promised musical accompaniment, I would definitely be upping my rating to a solid three stars).
Yes, I am familiar with ten or so of the thirty-six early jazz musicians author and illustrator Robert Crumb textually and visually presents to us readers in R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country, but that unfortunately, none of the blues and equally none of the country examples are actually, are in fact names even remotely known to me personally and that the combination in R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country of extremely basic and simplistic textual information (less than one page per described and showcased musician and never really all that much regarding biography, career choices, struggles etc.) and no bibliographic lists, no discographies for further reading and research either, this is all hugely frustrating in and of itself, as I was certainly wanting and also expecting considerably more textual meat so to speak from Robert Crumb's text for R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country. And most definitely, that missing, that unsent audio disc for R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country, it really just makes everything oh so so so much worse and as such much more all encompassingly annoying, since I certainly was looking forward to experiencing (and for the first time as well) early blues, early country music and those early jazz greats about whom I know nothing or only very little with that non existent CD.
Combined with the fact that while I do find Robert Crumb's accompanying portrait style pictures of the over one-hundred featured early blues, jazz and country musicians of R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country aesthetically wonderful (with a really nice realism/imagination mixture and a visually pretty appealingly delightful sense of colour), sorry, but I for one also both want and actually kind of even need not just drawn illustrations but also photographs, so that for me with R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country, a too simplistic textual treatment, no bibliographic references, nice artwork but sadly no photographs and the accompanying audio disc being totally and absolutely MIA so to speak, yes, I just cannot and will not consider more than two stars for R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country (although indeed, and as mentioned above, that with the CD, that if my copy of R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country were to include that promised musical accompaniment, I would definitely be upping my rating to a solid three stars).
February 28, 2010
When you consider that this book is accompanied by a great CD album of great early jazz, blues, and country greats, it's a terrific deal. The book itself consists of a series of annotated trading cards designed by cartoonist R. Crumb for Yazoo Records releases some thirty years ago. Crumb's art is, as usual, wonderful; and the short descriptions remind us about how much great old music from the 1920s and 1930s is forgotten today.
February 8, 2018
Absolutely incredible illustrations, with great accompanying text which will introduce you to forgotten heroes of blues, jazz, and country music. Try to find a copy with the accompanying 21-track cd included...sadly, mine was missing it. I still loved the book.
June 12, 2025
I got this from the library so sadly no CD accompanied it. I was able to look a fair amount of these musicians up which made this a lot more interesting. There are some obscure musical artists in this. I love old music so I found this book very interesting, and of course the drawings are great. If you’re a music nerd like me you’ll probably love this. I enjoyed it.
May 29, 2012
I fell in love with R. Crumb around the same time I got interested in blues music, and I found out about his love for blues when I stumbled upon a Son House greatest hits with Crumb's portrait of House on the cover. It's a perfect drawing; the tilt of the head, the gauche coloration vs. the black and white of the original photo, and the wrinkles - oh, the wrinkles! R. Crumb made the music make sense. Were it not for that particular rendering of Son House, blues may have remained a historical oddity to me rather than a vital, blood-and-bones experience. In this collection, I think Son House is the only musician who was actually caught performing in the shot, while the rest of them are posing for the camera. The fact that Crumb can capture the humanity in an artificially-smiling face is mind-blowing. Crumb looks at an old faded photo of the Weems String Band and gives it life. Suddenly these aren't just bodies that recorded some music and then vanished. Crumb has found the people hidden in the tape hiss, and he draws (or in the case of the jazz set, paints) each face, each body, as if he knew them personally.
August 22, 2009
skip james "hard time killing floor blues" is on the cd that comes with the book and instantly became one of my favorite blues songs
March 31, 2022
Crumb es un apasionado de los discos de 78 rpm y de la música norteamericana de los años 20 y 30. Y además parece bastante fundamentalista en sus gustos. Y si no que se lo digan a Mats Gustafsson que coprotagonizó con Crumb una de mis dos anécdotas favoritas del mundo del jazz (tampoco conozco muchas más). Por si alguien todavía no la conoce se puede leer aquí
Este libro recoge las ilustraciones de pioneros del blues, del jazz y del rock que Crumb dibujó para unas colecciones de cartas alrededor de 1980. También incluye un CD con 21 canciones (7 por género) seleccionadas por él mismo, reseñas biográficas (hechas por otros autores) de todos los músicos y una introducción de Terry Zwigoff.
Para mi gusto, los textos que acompañan la parte de jazz y blues son un poco escuetos y parecen escritos como mero trámite. Los de country son mucho más elaborados y apasionados, pero dan muchas cosas por sabidas y requieren de conocimientos musicales (que yo no tengo) para apreciarlas totalmente.
Pero toda la parte de Crumb, las ilustraciones y la selección de las canciones, es genial. Y el libro es super bonito como objeto. Lo malo es que te entran unas ganas terribles de conseguir los tres juegos de cartas para sacar una al azar y pasarte toda la tarde mirándola, escuchando solo canciones de ese músico en concreto. Arrebatado.
Este libro recoge las ilustraciones de pioneros del blues, del jazz y del rock que Crumb dibujó para unas colecciones de cartas alrededor de 1980. También incluye un CD con 21 canciones (7 por género) seleccionadas por él mismo, reseñas biográficas (hechas por otros autores) de todos los músicos y una introducción de Terry Zwigoff.
Para mi gusto, los textos que acompañan la parte de jazz y blues son un poco escuetos y parecen escritos como mero trámite. Los de country son mucho más elaborados y apasionados, pero dan muchas cosas por sabidas y requieren de conocimientos musicales (que yo no tengo) para apreciarlas totalmente.
Pero toda la parte de Crumb, las ilustraciones y la selección de las canciones, es genial. Y el libro es super bonito como objeto. Lo malo es que te entran unas ganas terribles de conseguir los tres juegos de cartas para sacar una al azar y pasarte toda la tarde mirándola, escuchando solo canciones de ese músico en concreto. Arrebatado.
August 20, 2018
I didn't buy the cards when they were issued, so finding this book collection of them was a nice surprise. The book consists primarily (of course) of the images, as the text that will fit on the back of a trading card is minimal--though the country set has consistently pretty long textual sections that I have a hard time imagining fit easily onto the backs of the cards. Anyway, Crumb's art is as always a pleasure to look at, though I was less enamoured of the jazz set than the blues and country sets; Crumb seemed to opt for a more polished and less personal style for them. The text bits are generally brief but informative, if cumulatively depressing; the number of young deaths, and the number of folks about whom little or nothing at all is known, is not exactly a resounding testament to how well our society treats or remembers artists. Bonus item is a CD offering a few selections by a handful of the artists depicted in each set. Probably for Crumb completists more than for anyone else, but fans of traditional popular music from the early part of the twentieth century might find it an interesting item as well.
January 12, 2008
This beautifully put together book is really and truly outstanding. The combination of Robert Crumb's art with single page bios of various old time blues, jazz and country stars is a major success. If you want to learn a little about a whole lot of singers and musicians from the 20's and 30's, this is your source. Even better, the included CD contains 21 awesome songs from the catalog of Yazoo Records, recorded between 1927 and 1931. Listen while you learn! R. Crumb's Heroes Of Blues, Jazz & Country takes the cake and eats it, too.
April 19, 2013
This was a very cool little book. This book brings together all of R. Crumb's illustrations he did for three early 1980's sets of trading cards featuring the Heroes Of The Blues, Early Jazz Greats and Pioneers Of Country Music. These excellent illustrations are accompanied by short bios of these intriguing musician and groups from first days early recorded American music. This is a fun collection for enthusiasts or a great introduction to artists like Son House, The Carter Family, Jimmie Rogers, Charlie Poole and many more known and very obscure musicians from the period.
February 15, 2014
Three sets of cards: Heroes of the Blues, Early Jazz Greats, and Pioneers of Country Music first published in the 1980s by Yazoo Records/Shanachie Entertainment are reproduced in this compilation. The Blues and Country sets were drawn in Crumb’s distinctive style and then colored. The Jazz set was painted by him. The portraits taken from existing photographs represent the musical passions of Crumb. The accompanying notes by Calt, Jasen and Nevins give brief information about the musicians, their careers, influences, playing styles and when available their birth and death dates.
July 22, 2007
a splendid collection of Crumb's trading card sets, in easily-accessible "book" format, with a cracking CD of scratchy gems, like the Weems String Band, who all look like each other's cousins.
his craft - drawing old photos in his own cartoon style - gives these old time musicians the slightly weird depth that suits them.
if you don't like Crumb's world, you won't like this - but if you don't know him, it's a pretty good place to start
his craft - drawing old photos in his own cartoon style - gives these old time musicians the slightly weird depth that suits them.
if you don't like Crumb's world, you won't like this - but if you don't know him, it's a pretty good place to start
February 3, 2009
A Christmas gift from my sister, this is an exceptional collection of single-panel renditions of unheralded musical legends by the brilliant (if eccentric) R. Crumb. The collection was originally intended to be published as a set of trading cards--which tells you something of the book's format: the artist appears on one page, and a short paragraph about his or her life appears opposite.
It's a lovely book.
It's a lovely book.
February 18, 2009
A great introduction to old blues, country and jazz records which even includes a CD to get you started. Some of the music is captivating, other more a little strange to modern ears. Crumb's illustrations are, of course, fantastic, but some of the anecdotes about the various bands are just as great. Altogether it's a great book - wonderful to flick through listening to the CD.
August 25, 2009
I've never been very attracted to Crumb's work although I understand his importance in the history of graphic novels & comics.
This book however was the perfect combination of art, music, and history. I was unaware of these card he originally created, but found the book interesting and it introduced me both in music and text to a variety of musicians.
This book however was the perfect combination of art, music, and history. I was unaware of these card he originally created, but found the book interesting and it introduced me both in music and text to a variety of musicians.
July 5, 2010
Crumb put together a great collection of music on the CD that accompanies this book of his portraits of his Heroes of Blues, Jazz, & Country.
I think he is one of the masters of pen and ink portraiture.
I think he is one of the masters of pen and ink portraiture.
September 20, 2012
Used to have the trading cards. Actually never bothered with the book. Seemed to me like Crumb just copied old photographs and didn't put much of himself into the drawings, so they didn't interest me.
I seem to be in a minority here with my rating, but that's ok.
I seem to be in a minority here with my rating, but that's ok.
November 11, 2013
R. Crumb drawings of mostly forgotten early blues, jazz and country musicians with brief biographical notes. Typical R. Crumb drawings. There is a music CD included. Nice book for those interested in early music.
March 6, 2019
Nice informative book, with Crumb's excellent drawings from photographs, of 1920s-30s blues, early jazz & country artists.
Good musical breakdown with references to each individual or group's recordings.
Good musical breakdown with references to each individual or group's recordings.
May 12, 2013
Fantastic little book. As wonderful as the trading cards are, though, the music itself is the real draw - listen to the CD, make yourself a radio station online, enjoy.
September 25, 2014
Great stuff, the country section was particularly interesting.
September 28, 2021
Artist Robert Crumb and c0-authors Stephen Calt and David Jasen offer an illustrated introduction to some of the earliest recording artists in blues, jazz and country. Some names are still familiar today--Jelly Roll Morton and the Carter Family stand out--but many are likely as dusty to the average reader as the 78s these musicians produced.
Each artist gets the trading-card treatment, with an illustration from Crumb on one side and a short write-up on the other. Some have full arcs, while others drop in for a few scratchy recordings and are lost to history. On the whole, though, the pictures are great and the little bios are tight, crisply collecting what made each musician memorable.
I didn't get a version with a CD, so I wasn't able to listen to the accompanying music. My only complaint with the book is that Crumb switched to a watercolor style with the jazz artists, which robs those illustrations of his intense, cross-hatched detail. A worthwhile read for anyone interested in now-obscure "roots" music.
Each artist gets the trading-card treatment, with an illustration from Crumb on one side and a short write-up on the other. Some have full arcs, while others drop in for a few scratchy recordings and are lost to history. On the whole, though, the pictures are great and the little bios are tight, crisply collecting what made each musician memorable.
I didn't get a version with a CD, so I wasn't able to listen to the accompanying music. My only complaint with the book is that Crumb switched to a watercolor style with the jazz artists, which robs those illustrations of his intense, cross-hatched detail. A worthwhile read for anyone interested in now-obscure "roots" music.
December 13, 2017
Good stories...good music.
June 7, 2013
You take a provocative artist like Robert Crumb and pair him with a controversial topic like early Blues and you get a masterpiece. This is just small bios of famous artists, which is similar to his "Little Blues Book" - key difference though is LBB offers even more depth on the Blues history and certain artists/lyrics which is really enjoyable - but unlike that book which is in B&W, this is in lovingly created color!!. Read them both together if you love the blues - the lyric component of LBB is really worth it.
June 23, 2019
12th printing!
It's absolutely RUDE that there is no informative introduction or glossary to explain the endlessly niche terminology of the music AND the era! Over 50% of the non-geographical information meant nothing to me.
Still being alive after 53 years was far beyond "middle-aged" in 1928!
The dominant country music half of this book
It's absolutely RUDE that there is no informative introduction or glossary to explain the endlessly niche terminology of the music AND the era! Over 50% of the non-geographical information meant nothing to me.
Still being alive after 53 years was far beyond "middle-aged" in 1928!
The dominant country music half of this book
February 7, 2014
Crumb is extrodinary artist, and although I don't personally like the style this book is drawn, I liked the theme of the book very much. It's cery interesting and gives insight in early stages of blues, jazz and rock music.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews