Like Harlem renaissance poet Langston Hughes, who first popularized the blues as a poetic form, California Poet Laureate Al Young has written about the blues, played the blues and drawn inspiration from the blues. Something About the Blues uses the blues as a theme throughout 100 new and previously-published poems. Selections evoke the cold, hard city, love gone wrong and blues music itself, with tributes to Ma Rainey, Lena Horne and other notable performers. Something About the Blues includes an audio CD with Al Young's dynamic, soulful readings of more than 20 of the poems from the book, plus Langston Hughes' reading of his classic "The Weary Blues." Many of Young's performances feature a live blues band.

Author Biography

California Poet Laureate Al Young is also a novelist and essayist. He is the recipient of NEA, Guggenheim, and Fulbright Fellowships, plus awards for fiction and nonfiction. A popular reader and performer, Young lectures worldwide on literature, music, creativity, the arts, and African American culture. Young lives in Berkeley, California.