An academic and teacher, Dr. Timothy J. Fik is a tenured associate professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Florida, where for the past 17 years he has been giving seminars and workshops on blues music while teaching a three-credit-hour course titled “Popular Music and Culture” focusing on the history of American roots music and the blues. His presentations spotlight the birth, diffusion, and meaning of blues music, and its importance as a catalyst for social change. Attention is given to regional styles and hybrids that emerged as the blues evolved and spread out from its geographic origin and epicenter, the Mississippi Delta and the fertile agricultural lands that supported the cotton plantations of the South. The distinguishing features of the various and recognizable subgenres of the blues are highlighted, including the Delta blues, classic blues (with attention given to the blues matriarchy), Chicago blues, Piedmont and country blues, Texas blues, Memphis blues/soul, jump blues, barrelhouse and boogie-woogie, West-Coast (cocktail) blues, Hill Country blues, blues-boogie, rockabilly, and early rock ’n’ roll. Performance attributes of these styles are discussed at length, with demonstrations given on acoustic guitar and electric guitar. In addition to infusing a love of the blues within the University of Florida student body, Fik is also a fervent supporter of Women in Blues and The Blues Foundation.
