SOURCE: "Can't Even Write: The Blues and Ethnic Literature," in Melus, Vol. 10, No. 1, Spring, 1983, pp. 7-14.

In the following essay, Oliver argues that blues music is a legitimate extension of the African-American folk experience, but it is a limited genre as a source for a true ethnic literature.

Lord, the reason why baby, I been so long writin' to you
 I say, the reason why baby, I been so long writin' to you,
 Because I been studyin' so hard, Lord how to sing these blues.1

Sleepy John Estes' verse may not summarize the whole issue of the relationship between ethnic song and literature, but it does give us a hint of where the folk composer's priorities lie. Estes was a blues singer from Brownsville, Tennessee, one of the hundreds of such singers whose recordings have constituted one of the largest reserves of a folk literature among any ethnic...