Portraits of the Blues

Portraits of the Blues is an introduction to the music, lives and worldviews of key blues artists from the early twentieth century. The book is conceived as part of a package including a CD (sold separately). The book author and recording artist is Darrell Arnold, a Miami-based philosophy professor and performing singer-songwriter. Darrell brings his philosophical background to bear in observations on key features of the artists' lives, considering the artists' views of religion, their impacts on politics, and their understandings of how the blues stirs the human soul. The book illustrations are portraits of the musicians, created by Irena Gapkovska. The album that accompanies the book was recorded together with the Nashville-based guitarist and producer, Jack Shawde. Together, the writing, artwork and music of Portraits of the Blues make for a unique multifaceted presentation of the blues. The book provides short biographies of the artists whose music is recorded on the album, drawing attention to some themes especially in religion and politics that are relevant to the blues of these artists. The book is framed through Darrell's lens as a professional philosopher. However, the point of this book is not to offer a detailed historical overview of each musician's life or an outline of what each of these musicians believed-to provide, if you will, their respective "philosophies of life." It does though sketch the lives of these artists with philosophical issues as formative background interests.