Various Artists Defiance Blues (House of Blues, 1998)
Reviewed by Micah Holmquist
November 18, 1998.

Born out of African American oppression, blues music has long expressed sadness and rage. It has only rarely though been the vehicle for overt songs of protest. The juke joints and bars where the music was performed were hardly looked upon favorably by white society but, for the most part, they were aloud to operate. Had blues singers made a point of directly addressing the evils of racism and poverty there is little doubt that the authorities would have shut them down. And so the music and lyrics most often had to express the question of race through tales of love and lust. Occasionally, however, the performers would break free and say exactly what was on their mind. A release titled Defiance Blues (House of Blues Records) is documentation of the best of those occasions.

The 15 tracks that make up Defiance Blues were recorded between 1929 and 1996. Together they represent a wide range of styles and could serve as a guide on how the blues has changed. Unfortunately they also show that the issues faced by blacks in the United States have not changed all that much.

"Fattening Frogs For Snakes" by Sonny Boy Williamson opens the album. Here the legendary harmonica player tells about the racism he has experienced and his determination to no longer allow it. "I’m not fattenin’ no more frogs for snakes" is how he puts it. Other songs deal with race in a much more direct manner. "Backlash Blues" by jazz singer Nina Simone covers tells the tale of blacks always being asked to sacrifice in times of trouble but never enjoying the visible fruits in times of prosperity. Big Bill Broonzy’s "Black, Brown, and White" is a tale of the humiliation which segregation brought. With its famous line "If you’re black, then brother get back, get back, get back" the song expresses not only revulsion against segregation but the emotions felt by any group unjustly denied something. The song "Bourgeois Blues" by Leadbelly offers both a critique of society and an explanation. Things are bad because it is a bourgeois society. So how should this be solved? In "Uncle Sam Says" Josh White offers "I think democracy is fine. Democracy without the color line."

Some songs cover specific topics. "No Education" by Lightnin’ Hopkins is a sad lament of what it is like to have been denied the ability to read and write. "Prisoner’s Talking Blues" takes on the penitentiary system. Actually recorded in prison by Robert Pete Williams there can be little doubt that his emotions are the real thing. Probably the best known recording in this collection is Billie Holiday’s "Strange Fruit." Rarely has a more powerful moment ever been recorded. The soaring vocals of Holiday are an amazing accompaniment to this disturbing story of black men being lynched.

Songs in Defiance Blues are not limited solely to "black concerns." Junior Wells’ "Viet Cong Blues" relates the desperation felt by many towards U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Likewise "It Don’t Make Sense (You Can’t Make Peace)" by Willie Dixon asks the timeless question of why their is money for weapons but not to meet people’s basic needs.

This last song was recorded in 1981 well past the days at which Dixon -one of the most popular blues songwriters and performers of all time- was at his peak commercially. The linear notes do not indicate when "It Don’t Make Sense (You Can’t Make Peace)" was first written but one can assume that even in the late 1950s or early 1960s that Dixon would have been apprehensive about recording such a song. Since then however the recordings of soul, rhythm and blues, and hip-hop artists have significantly expanded what blues singers are allowed to say. Defiance Blues accounts for this with two recordings from 1996. Big Jack Johnson’s "We Got to Stop This Killin’" is an fast paced call for an end to urban violence. "Bluestime in America" by Michael Hill’s Blues Mob is the perfect soundtrack for the contemporary U.S. where real wages have fallen and social struggle seems defeated. This is no mere waving of a white flag however. Instead it is a call to "keep the faith" and remember that sooner or later "All the thieves and dream-stealers will find they have due to pay."

It is this vision that comes through strongest in Defiance Blues and really in all blues music. To interpret the sadness expressed in the blues as a reflection of oppression but not the joy as springing from hope is wrong. To make music as powerful and emotional as the blues so often is, requires the belief that suffering is not done in vain and joy is not just superficial. Rather there must be some meaning, some worth eliminating and something worth striving for. Defiance Blues is an inspirational tribute to such thinking.

Return to Writings on Music