[Harp-L] Butterfield and Race

[<peacoatguy@xxxxxxxxx>]

The harmonica was an uninspiring German  toy-instrument, toy, until African-American descendants of slaves got  hold of it. They added African rythms and sensibilities to European  melodies -- and blues, jazz and rock were born. African-Americans  invented blues harp.So, we honor the Sonnys and the Walters and hold them and their sound in a very special regard. 
  
  Butterfield was a cultural pioneer, an racial crossover astronaut. He  made the blues accessible to a generation of whites who weren't ready  to listen to roots blues sounds, black folks music. 
  
  Subjective opinions about Butterfield's playing are all balled up in  the rest of this peculiarly American form of mental illness.  Butterfield was white. He crossed color lines in America, like others,  he deserves credit for that and it's the context for appraisng his  music. 
  

		
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