London and New York: Quartet Books, 1989.
The multifaceted story of Willie Dixon–songwriter, producer, bassist, music publisher, singer, promoter, and more–is told by an equally wide-ranging and impressive cast of musicians (primarily Dixon himself), studio and record label personnel, promotion and management figures, family members and childhood friends in I Am the Blues. Don Snowden sets the stage for each chapter with an introductory narrative and then weaves in quotes from Dixon and those who knew him, including Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor, Jimmy Rogers, European promoters Horst Lippmann and Giorgio Gomelsky, and several members of the Chess Records staff. The tale begins in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and deals with Dixon’s hoboing, boxing and scuffles with the law as well as his prolific musical history and his reminiscences of Sonny Boy Williamson, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Otis Rush and others. Dixon also speaks his mind on racial, religious and political issues, and Snowden concludes with several appendices of Dixon’s work on records and on film and television.
— Jim O’Neal
www.stackhouse-bluesoterica.blogspot.com