Blue Chicago: the search for authenticity in urban blues clubs

TLDR

Blue Chicago explores how contemporary urban blues clubs manufacture and sell iconic yet empty images of the blues, revealing that the quest for authenticity has reshaped the blues experience across Chicago’s club scene. The author examines how musicians, club owners, and city boosters define and distribute authenticity to tourists and regulars, while also charting the evolving racial dynamics of the blues, noting black musicians’ frustrations with repetitive standards aimed at white audiences. Grazian concludes that authenticity is subjective—viewed as a nocturnal fantasy by some, a vital lifestyle by others, and a burdensome expectation by the rest.

Abstract

Blue Chicago takes us inside the world of contemporary urban blues clubs to uncover how iconic - yet empty - images of the blues are manufactured and sold to music fans and audiences. Drawing on countless nights in dozens of blues clubs throughout Chicago, David Grazian shows how this quest for authenticity has transformed the very shape of the blues experience. He explores the ways in which professional and amateur musicians, club owners, and city boosters define authenticity and dish it out to tourists and bar regulars. He also tracks the changing relations between race and the blues over the past several decades, including the increasing frustrations of black musicians forced to slog through the same set of over-played blues standards for mainly white audiences night after night. In the end, Grazian finds that authenticity lies in the eye of the beholder: a nocturnal fantasy to some, an essential way of life to others, and a frustrating burden to the rest.