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Forums :: General Discussion

A novel about an aspiring Blues Harmonica player!

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Tue, 01/09/2018 - 14:02
VicBaker
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Joined: 12/24/2017

I was just on amazon when I saw this novel cover on which a boy was playing harmonica! The novel's name is "Clayton Byrd Goes Underground"by Rita Williams-Garcia. (Does the "Byrd" in the title have something to do with our very own Sonny Boy's Bye Bye Bird?) The book has earned nice reviews and was also National Book Award finalist for 2017.

Here's the short intro of the book from amazon:

"Clayton feels most alive when he’s with his grandfather, Cool Papa Byrd, and the band of Bluesmen—he can’t wait to join them, just as soon as he has a blues song of his own. But then the unthinkable happens. Cool Papa Byrd dies, and Clayton’s mother forbids Clayton from playing the blues. And Clayton knows that’s no way to live.

Armed with his grandfather’s brown porkpie hat and his harmonica, he runs away from home in search of the Bluesmen, hoping he can join them on the road. But on the journey that takes him through the New York City subways and to Washington Square Park, Clayton learns some things that surprise him."

If any of you are interested in books, do check this one out. It can be a fun experience! After all, like the protagonist, all of us are also aspiring blues harmonica players!

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