Pat wrote:
"I was stunned by the question about whether or not "white
people" listened to blues back in the thirties. I am a born
and bred Southerner and can assure you that if you lived in
the South, you grew up with the blues. The blues were a part
of the culture, and not just the black culture."
This is certainly accurate of the culture. At that time,
blues and what is now called country (then called hillbilly)
had very blurred lines, if there were lines at all -- Jimmy
Rodgers learned to play from a black man (as Hank Williams
later did); Howlin' Wolf explained his distinctive howl was
actually his attempt to yodel like Rodgers, etc.
However, neither of these musics were of very respectable or
even mainstream culture, always thought to be from the wrong
side of the tracks. I don't really recall any hillbilly
musicians in vintage hardboiled lit, either. Are there even
many (I can't think of any, but my knowledge of vintage HB
could be a lot better) scenes set in roadhouses or juke
joints? They are both more rural and noir/hardboiled is
traditionally set in the city. (I know, there are many
exceptions and an expanding contemporary movement of country
noir.)
Jazz, on the other hand, gained mainstream popularity,
eventually respectability. It was also far more urban.
Chandler's King in Yellow is the earliest jazz tale I know,
but I would guess it was not uncommon. Many later PIs
revealed their cool by hanging out in jazz clubs -- Peter
Gunn and Johnny Staccato immediately come to mind. And a lot
of other PIs had cases involving beatniks, like Johnny
Amsterdam ("A square with chin hair").
Speaking of the last, is I Like It Cool, featuring
Amsteredam, written by Michael Lawrence, any good? I bought
it for the title and the cover.
And Dennis Lynds (AKA Michael Collins) wrote Uptown Downtown:
"By day he was a ruthless executive, by night a free-wheeling
beatnik. He had the best of both worlds . . . and the perfect
woman in each." I really need to read that book.
Mark
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