Press and Reviews
[Long Lost Blues is] an extremely gripping and far-reaching study of a major piece of early jazz history.
Wolfram Knauer, reviewer for the Darmstadt Jazz-Institut
Read the full review (in German) here.
Muir’s study is fascinating, with implications larger than the history of blues in its examination of the interplay between orally passed-along folk music (which was where the blues stood at the dawn of the 20th century) and popular music transmitted through commercial media.
David Luhrssen, “Long Lost Blues: The Tangled Roots of American Music” for the Milwaukee Express
Read the full article here.
Long Lost Blues is both scholarly and highly readable. For me, it offered a fascinating view of the blues as a serious and genuine malady.
Barbara Bamberger Scott, reviewer for Curled Up With A Good Book
Read the full review here.
Long Lost Blues is a remarkable achievement which stands on the twin pillars of exhaustive research and acute musical analysis.
Chris Smith, Blues & Rhythm No. 249 (May 2010)
Peter C. Muir’s book Long Lost Blues is a milestone. All music lovers are indebted to his painstaking search and diligent analysis, which will lead to a better understanding of the most important music of the 20th century.
Karl Gert zur Heide, author of Deep South Piano
Muir’s revealing book contributes significantly to understanding how sheet music and the pop music industry influenced the blues. An important work.
Tim Brooks, author of Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890-1919
This fascinating work discusses the genesis and introduction of a minority music genre into mainstream culture in a way that is impossible to ignore, given the importance of blues connections to other genres. Essential reading for anyone interested in American music.
Dick Spottswood, host of The Dick Spottswood Show on BlueGrassCountry.org and editor of Ethnic Music on Records
…breaks new ground in blues research.
Steve Ramm, In the Groove (July 2010)
A fascinating book which is highly readable, despite its academic approach.
Doctor Jazz Magazine No. 209 (June 2010)
A study like Muir’s has been overdue for decades. He has done a thorough job and presents the results of his pioneering research in a highly readable manner.
Konrad Nowakowski, Austrian blues collector and author
