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W.C. Handy: The Life and Times of the Man Who Made the Blues
Before there was Elvis, there was W.C. Handy, “the man who made the blues.” Here is the first major biography in decades of the man who gave us such iconic songs as “St. Louis Blues,” “The Memphis Blues,” and “Beale Street Blues,” and who was responsible, more than any other musician, for bringing the blues into the American mainstream.
David Robertson charts W.C. Handy’s rise from a rural Alabama childhood in the last decades of the nineteenth century to become one of the most celebrated songwriters of the twentieth. The child of former slaves, Handy was first inspired by spirituals and folk songs, and his passion for music pushed him to leave home as a teenager, despite opposition from his preacher father. He soon found his way to St. Louis, where he spent a winter sleeping on cobblestone docks before lucking into a job with an Indiana brass band. It was in a minstrel show, playing to racially mixed audiences across the country, that he got his first real exposure as a professional musician, but it was in Memphis, where he settled in 1905, that he hit his full stride as a composer. There, Handy frequented the famous saloons and music halls of Beale Street and composed his legendary songs. By the time of his death in 1958, at the age of eighty-five, he had become a major influence on pop culture, his music recorded by countless musicians, from Bessie Smith to Django Reinhardt.
Robertson weaves a rich tapestry of the worlds Handy inhabited: the post-Reconstruction South; the ministrel shows in all their racial ambiguity; the mysterious, forbidding Mississippi Delta; Memphis, with its jumping music scene; and New York’s Tin Pan Alley. At once a testament to the power of song and a chronicle of race and black music in America, W.C. Handy’s life story is in many ways the story of the birth of our country's indigenous culture—and a riveting must-read for anyone interested in the history of American music.
David Robertson charts W.C. Handy’s rise from a rural Alabama childhood in the last decades of the nineteenth century to become one of the most celebrated songwriters of the twentieth. The child of former slaves, Handy was first inspired by spirituals and folk songs, and his passion for music pushed him to leave home as a teenager, despite opposition from his preacher father. He soon found his way to St. Louis, where he spent a winter sleeping on cobblestone docks before lucking into a job with an Indiana brass band. It was in a minstrel show, playing to racially mixed audiences across the country, that he got his first real exposure as a professional musician, but it was in Memphis, where he settled in 1905, that he hit his full stride as a composer. There, Handy frequented the famous saloons and music halls of Beale Street and composed his legendary songs. By the time of his death in 1958, at the age of eighty-five, he had become a major influence on pop culture, his music recorded by countless musicians, from Bessie Smith to Django Reinhardt.
Robertson weaves a rich tapestry of the worlds Handy inhabited: the post-Reconstruction South; the ministrel shows in all their racial ambiguity; the mysterious, forbidding Mississippi Delta; Memphis, with its jumping music scene; and New York’s Tin Pan Alley. At once a testament to the power of song and a chronicle of race and black music in America, W.C. Handy’s life story is in many ways the story of the birth of our country's indigenous culture—and a riveting must-read for anyone interested in the history of American music.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published March 14, 2009
42 people want to read
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David Robertson
268 books3 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 13, 2025
An American Life In Music
In his new biography of the African American composer W.C. Handy (1873 -- 1958), David Robertson tells the story of how Handy discovered the force of the blues. Handy, then living in Clarksdale, Mississippi, described in his autobiography a musical epiphany he had in 1903 or 1904 at the railroad station in Tutwiler:
"A lean, loose-jointed Negro had commenced plunking a guitar beside me while I slept. His clothes were rags; his feet peeked out of his shoes. His face had on it some of the sadness of the ages. As he played, he pressed a knife on the strings of a guitar in a manner popularized by Hawaiian guitarists who used steel bars. 'Goin where the Southern cross the Dog'. The singer repeated the line three times, accompanying himself on the guitar with the weirdest music I ever heard." (Handy, quoted in Robertson, p. 95)
From this time forward, Handy began to integrate the blues he heard into the performances by his band of marches, dances, and ragtimes. Handy ultimately was to describe himself as the "father of the blues." But more broadly, Handy became what he described as "an American composer." Educated and urbane, Handy knew that the classical composer Antonin Dvorak had visited the United States and developed the "Dvorak Manifesto." Dvorak predicted that the national music of the United States would ultimately be based upon spirituals and other music of African Americans. (Robertson, p. 9) Handy set out to prove Dvorak correct.
Robertson has written a moving biography of Handy's life and accomplishments, placing his story in the context of the development of both popular and classical American music. Born in a log cabin in Florence, Alabama, Handy's father and grandfather had been ministers. To the chagrin of his father, Handy became acquainted with the legendary black musician Joe Turner. Handy bought a cornet, taught himself to play, and formed the ambition of living a life of music. As young men, Handy and four companions hoboed their way to the Chicago World's Fair only to find it had been postponed for a year. Handy then travelled alone to St Louis where he struggled with poverty and lived the life later immortalized in "St. Louis Blues."
For many years, the young Handy led the life of a wanderer. Handy performed in minstrel shows, with their patronizing and stereotyped attitude towards blacks. He married, moved to Clarksdale, and then to Memphis. In both these southern cities, he was a band leader trying to make a living performing for both white and black audiences. The turning point in Handy's life came when he discovered the rural blues at the Tutwiler railroad station where he heard "the sadness of the ages."
Handy's reputation rests upon a small number of blues songs he composed from about 1909-1920, including his most famous song "St Louis Blues". Composed in 1914, the song was little-noticed until 1920, but it has been recorded and performed innumerable times since then. With its haunting combination of blues and tango, "St. Louis Blues" has become one of the iconic works of American music. Handy's other compositions include the "Memphis Blues" (Handy foolishly sold the copyright to this work almost literally for a song -- $50), the "Beale Street Blues", "Yellow Dog Blues" and "Aunt Hagar's Blues". These songs are worthy achievements for any composer.
In the 1920s Handy moved to New York where he turned his attention from composition to writing. In 1926, he coauthored, together with the Wall Street Lawyer Jacob Niles and the Mexican artist Miguel Covarrubias, a seminal work on the early blues titled, "The Blues: an Anthology." In 1941, Handy wrote his autobiography, "The Father of the Blues" detailing, among other things, the bawdy life on Beale Street, Memphis of his day. Late in the 1930s, Handy became interested in and edited an anthology of Spirituals. Blinded by a subway accident in 1943, Handy lived until 1958, when he died an American legend.
Handy has been somewhat slighted in recent years in favor of the Delta Blues musicians such as Charlie Patton and Robert Johnson. But the blues had many roots. Handy knew Patton and rural blues. But Robertson shows that blues was also heavily influenced by ragtime. (The connection will be apparent to anyone who studies ragtime on the piano.) A trained musician, Handy incorporated many strains into his blues. Handy's blues were in their turn incorporated into both American jazz and classical music, particularly George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue."
Robertson tells the story of Handy's musical, personal, and business life with eclat. He portrays the development of Handy's music through the minstrel shows, band and march music, ragtime, blues, and tin pan alley. He also offers a rare look into the publishing world, as Handy, in spite of his lack of business sense, became a successful African American entrepreneur and music publisher with his friend Harry Pace and then with his brother, Charles Handy.
Robertson's study confirms Handy's importance to American music and offers a great deal of insight into the development of the blues. Readers with an interest in the blues and in American music will benefit from this book.
Robin Friedman
In his new biography of the African American composer W.C. Handy (1873 -- 1958), David Robertson tells the story of how Handy discovered the force of the blues. Handy, then living in Clarksdale, Mississippi, described in his autobiography a musical epiphany he had in 1903 or 1904 at the railroad station in Tutwiler:
"A lean, loose-jointed Negro had commenced plunking a guitar beside me while I slept. His clothes were rags; his feet peeked out of his shoes. His face had on it some of the sadness of the ages. As he played, he pressed a knife on the strings of a guitar in a manner popularized by Hawaiian guitarists who used steel bars. 'Goin where the Southern cross the Dog'. The singer repeated the line three times, accompanying himself on the guitar with the weirdest music I ever heard." (Handy, quoted in Robertson, p. 95)
From this time forward, Handy began to integrate the blues he heard into the performances by his band of marches, dances, and ragtimes. Handy ultimately was to describe himself as the "father of the blues." But more broadly, Handy became what he described as "an American composer." Educated and urbane, Handy knew that the classical composer Antonin Dvorak had visited the United States and developed the "Dvorak Manifesto." Dvorak predicted that the national music of the United States would ultimately be based upon spirituals and other music of African Americans. (Robertson, p. 9) Handy set out to prove Dvorak correct.
Robertson has written a moving biography of Handy's life and accomplishments, placing his story in the context of the development of both popular and classical American music. Born in a log cabin in Florence, Alabama, Handy's father and grandfather had been ministers. To the chagrin of his father, Handy became acquainted with the legendary black musician Joe Turner. Handy bought a cornet, taught himself to play, and formed the ambition of living a life of music. As young men, Handy and four companions hoboed their way to the Chicago World's Fair only to find it had been postponed for a year. Handy then travelled alone to St Louis where he struggled with poverty and lived the life later immortalized in "St. Louis Blues."
For many years, the young Handy led the life of a wanderer. Handy performed in minstrel shows, with their patronizing and stereotyped attitude towards blacks. He married, moved to Clarksdale, and then to Memphis. In both these southern cities, he was a band leader trying to make a living performing for both white and black audiences. The turning point in Handy's life came when he discovered the rural blues at the Tutwiler railroad station where he heard "the sadness of the ages."
Handy's reputation rests upon a small number of blues songs he composed from about 1909-1920, including his most famous song "St Louis Blues". Composed in 1914, the song was little-noticed until 1920, but it has been recorded and performed innumerable times since then. With its haunting combination of blues and tango, "St. Louis Blues" has become one of the iconic works of American music. Handy's other compositions include the "Memphis Blues" (Handy foolishly sold the copyright to this work almost literally for a song -- $50), the "Beale Street Blues", "Yellow Dog Blues" and "Aunt Hagar's Blues". These songs are worthy achievements for any composer.
In the 1920s Handy moved to New York where he turned his attention from composition to writing. In 1926, he coauthored, together with the Wall Street Lawyer Jacob Niles and the Mexican artist Miguel Covarrubias, a seminal work on the early blues titled, "The Blues: an Anthology." In 1941, Handy wrote his autobiography, "The Father of the Blues" detailing, among other things, the bawdy life on Beale Street, Memphis of his day. Late in the 1930s, Handy became interested in and edited an anthology of Spirituals. Blinded by a subway accident in 1943, Handy lived until 1958, when he died an American legend.
Handy has been somewhat slighted in recent years in favor of the Delta Blues musicians such as Charlie Patton and Robert Johnson. But the blues had many roots. Handy knew Patton and rural blues. But Robertson shows that blues was also heavily influenced by ragtime. (The connection will be apparent to anyone who studies ragtime on the piano.) A trained musician, Handy incorporated many strains into his blues. Handy's blues were in their turn incorporated into both American jazz and classical music, particularly George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue."
Robertson tells the story of Handy's musical, personal, and business life with eclat. He portrays the development of Handy's music through the minstrel shows, band and march music, ragtime, blues, and tin pan alley. He also offers a rare look into the publishing world, as Handy, in spite of his lack of business sense, became a successful African American entrepreneur and music publisher with his friend Harry Pace and then with his brother, Charles Handy.
Robertson's study confirms Handy's importance to American music and offers a great deal of insight into the development of the blues. Readers with an interest in the blues and in American music will benefit from this book.
Robin Friedman
May 31, 2025
Nice, short biography of WC Handy. I’m a fan of the blues but had not heard of Handy until my girlfriend gifted me this book. Fun to learn about a pretty remarkable musician and man!
June 16, 2018
I’ve heard Mr. Handy’s name come up in my reading (and listening) to the origins of The Blues. I went for this book and not his autobiography because anyone that stakes the claim to be the Father of something himself, I look upon with suspicion. This book backs up that claim (to a certain extent) and even provided me with some good info about the world in which he walked.
I’ll give Handy credit, he never claimed to have created the blues, just that he was the Father. And like Edison and the lightbulb and Ford and the assembly line, he was the first to package something that existed in a saleable manner. I also got a bit of a musical education here, too. I’ve never been musically inclined so I had to do some research on my own when Mr. Robertson started talking about the downbeat, the so-called Blue Note. It finally sank in!
Another thing that sank in was how attitudes African Americans towards their own when navigating white America have shifted. Handy was constantly referred to as optimistic even to his own detriment. He had no head for business but thought things would work out. When he sold the rights to what would become his most famous tune, St. Louis Blues, for $50, he always assumed he’d be able to buy them back. And he did. But this jovial attitude reminded me of what Miles Davis said about Louis Armstrong in his own autobiography. He thought Louis was a clown and really didn’t like how he was always laughing.
Speaking of not funny, Tin Pan Alley (aka White Music Labels in New York, which is another thing I learned!) refused to record Handy. So he eventually started his own label. Thankfully he had a partner with a good fiscal head, H.H. Pace, and it was really successful in selling sheet music to his new Blues tunes. In doing so he reminded me of another musical giant; Willie Dixon. Willie Dixon’s Blues Heaven was founded by his widow to continue Dixon’s crusade of helping African American artists learn about and keep the copyrights to their music. That was a crusade that WC Handy started. For as long as African Americans have been creating music, whites have been stealing it.
One more note before I steal away. Jelly Roll Morton the man who has become known as The Father of Jazz fought bitterly with Mr. Handy for the title of Father of the Blues. I’ll have to read up on it but it most likely had to do with the fact that Mr. Handy couldn’t not play in the improvisational style that defines jazz. Since The Blues and The Jazz, er Jazz, were developing at the same time, it was little wonder that there would be dissension among the ranks of the innovators.
I’ll give Handy credit, he never claimed to have created the blues, just that he was the Father. And like Edison and the lightbulb and Ford and the assembly line, he was the first to package something that existed in a saleable manner. I also got a bit of a musical education here, too. I’ve never been musically inclined so I had to do some research on my own when Mr. Robertson started talking about the downbeat, the so-called Blue Note. It finally sank in!
Another thing that sank in was how attitudes African Americans towards their own when navigating white America have shifted. Handy was constantly referred to as optimistic even to his own detriment. He had no head for business but thought things would work out. When he sold the rights to what would become his most famous tune, St. Louis Blues, for $50, he always assumed he’d be able to buy them back. And he did. But this jovial attitude reminded me of what Miles Davis said about Louis Armstrong in his own autobiography. He thought Louis was a clown and really didn’t like how he was always laughing.
Speaking of not funny, Tin Pan Alley (aka White Music Labels in New York, which is another thing I learned!) refused to record Handy. So he eventually started his own label. Thankfully he had a partner with a good fiscal head, H.H. Pace, and it was really successful in selling sheet music to his new Blues tunes. In doing so he reminded me of another musical giant; Willie Dixon. Willie Dixon’s Blues Heaven was founded by his widow to continue Dixon’s crusade of helping African American artists learn about and keep the copyrights to their music. That was a crusade that WC Handy started. For as long as African Americans have been creating music, whites have been stealing it.
One more note before I steal away. Jelly Roll Morton the man who has become known as The Father of Jazz fought bitterly with Mr. Handy for the title of Father of the Blues. I’ll have to read up on it but it most likely had to do with the fact that Mr. Handy couldn’t not play in the improvisational style that defines jazz. Since The Blues and The Jazz, er Jazz, were developing at the same time, it was little wonder that there would be dissension among the ranks of the innovators.
March 26, 2020
Very enjoyable if you're into the subject matter. It may also be of interest to students of the African American experience from the time of reconstruction to the middle of the 20th century, especially the parts about Black [as opposed to blackface] minstrelry. I dont know if a casual reader would find much to enjoy, but you never know.
May 26, 2014
Now viewed more as an icon than a musician, W.C. Handy's version of the blues, while very different and what one generally thinks is that musical genre now, certainly did open the door to widespread acceptance of the musical form and traditions. That his life encompassed both a rural upbringing and an adult life in urban settings lends an interesting setting to his development as a musician and his ambitions to be known as an "American" composer. Like so many biographies of musicians and artists, far more space is given to exploring Handy's formative years as a child and as a band leader than his later years as an established musician and composer. More detail about his family life and evidently active extramarital social life amy have livened up the last third of the book but overall, if you have an interest in the blues or jazz as a quintessentially American musical genre, this book should be on your reading list.
August 20, 2010
Very interesting book about W.C. Handy. It pulled a lot from Handy's autobiography so now I am interested in picking up a copy of "Father of the Blues" and reading the first hand account of Handy's life. I would recommend this book to anyone that has more than a passing interest in blues music and would like to learn more about the roots.
May 23, 2012
Book #15 for 2012 - I found this book about "the father of the blues" interesting for the most part but I did feel it got bogged down by A LOT of detail at times. If you're interested in music history it is really good!
February 28, 2013
Very informative biography that I enjoyed a lot! A lot of good info that was fascinating to me as a Blues Musician. Handy truly believed in the Blues as an American Art form and was one of the first to publish Blues via sheet music and then later, recordings.
January 20, 2010
A lot of good information about a figure I knew little about -- filled in a significant knowledge gap for me.
June 17, 2013
Seems to be a fairly balanced account of the life of a man who was deeply involved in the development of the blues as an American contribution to music.
July 9, 2016
Good book on Handy and the times that he lived in. He brought blues into the modern culture.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews