Getting the Blues

GETTING THE BLUES: WHAT BLUES MUSIC TEACHES US ABOUT SUFFERING AND SALVATION . By Stephen J. Nichols . Grand Rapids, MI : Brazos Press , 2008 . Pp . 192 . Paper, $20.00 . The great lessons of human existence are often found in the midst of pain and anguish. Referring to the Blues as “theology in a minor key,” Nichols creatively interweaves the stories of early Blues artists like Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters with such themes as sin, forgiveness, redemption, justice, and eschatology to show how Christianity and culture interact and address the human dilemma. By carefully listening to its message, we can begin to appreciate how this music, which began in the Mississippi Delta, can show us how the church relates to modern culture. Blues artists are not theologians, but their music may indeed be the most theological because it tells the truth: Johnson sang about Paradise Lost; Waters stated that the Blues would be around as long as people hurt. The OT prophets denounced social injustice, David fell into a deep pit of sin and degradation, and Paul addressed the deficiencies of humanity. Yet in their own way and with their own biblically based worldview, the slaves who sang spirituals in the cotton fields of the Delta, and the sharecroppers and railroad workers who followed them, also realistically addressed this “theology of Good Friday.” Although ending on a good note (Sunday comes with the hope of Resurrection), there is very little about the contributions of recent Blues artists (e.g., Hendrix and Bonamassa). These limits notwithstanding, Nichols's book will help readers to understand how the Blues, rooted in the African American experience, “teaches us what it means to be human.”

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