Handmade Music Factory. Mike Orr

      As a comprehensive nonprofit organization

      that protects the legacy and music of

      legendary blues artist Robert L. Johnson,

      the foundation also encourages those

      activities that keep alive the traditions

      that formed Johnson’s music.

      This book is about one of those traditions:

      HOMEMADE INSTRUMENTS.

      The state of Mississippi’s mantra is

      “The Birthplace of America’s Music.” That

      credo places the state in a unique arena

      when highlighting the genres of popular

      music that have contributed so much to

      the world of creative entertainment. The

      instruments that were born out of both

      creativity and poverty are indicative of the

      spirit of America and the “can do” mantra

      that shaped the Industrial Revolution.

      2011 is the centennial birthday of this icon

      force, and this foreword serves as a literary

      salute to the “King of Delta Blues” and how

      his ingenuity laid a foundation for greatness.

      Foreword

      BY BRUCE M. CONFORTH PH. D., BEN L. MINNIFIELD, AND DR. TANYA SCOTT

      —

      ROBERT JOHNSON BLUES FOUNDATION

      Blues music has its origin in the work songs sung by

      slaves in the southern states of America. During slavery,

      Africans adapted to using the leftovers of plantation

      owners as mechanisms for survival and entertainment.

      They also used their own traditions to transform the

      American cultural landscape. The cultural relationship

      of slave and slave owner was complex and often a

      give-and-take exchange. From foodways (using cast-off

      pig intestines to create the delicacy of chitterlings),

      to architecture (slaves introduced the “front porch” to

      America), to folk medicine and traditions, slave culture

      brought much to American life.

      Music was a particularly interesting area of exchange.

      Although slave owners often encouraged musical

      expression among their slaves, believing a misguided

      rationale that a singing slave was a happy slave, they

      also felt instruments could be used to communicate

      secret messages that would lead to rebellion. The 1739

      South Carolina slave codes, for instance, were the first

      to ban drumming among slaves for fear that the rhythms

      would foment insurrection. However, the African musical

      tradition slaves brought to the New World included much

      more than just drums. There was a rich African tradition

      of stringed instruments, from the one-string fiddle to the

      multi-stringed kora. Perhaps the most important of these

      African retentions was the banjar, which would morph

      into the banjo

      —

      oddly enough, an instrument that would

      become associated with Anglo-American folk music and

      ultimately one of the signature sounds of the proto-typical

      white roots music “bluegrass.”

      After slavery, though still under the oppression of

      Jim Crow and segregation, the power of song and

      music provided a base for inspiration and entertainment.

      America’s earliest documentation of songs from this era

      is found in Allen, Ware, and Garrison’s 1867 book,

      Slave

      Songs of the United States.

      In this seminal text, we see

      work and secular songs, as well as the spiritual roots that

      would eventually form the blues. This early documentation

      speaks to music used to open the core of a person’s soul

      through verse and instrumentation, and explore the pain

      and pleasure of living. This is the basis of the blues.