Why was WC Handy considered to be the father of blues?
Because he claimed he was, and the idea was supported by his friend Abbe Niles who wrote every single word in “Blues – An Anthology” published under Handy’s name. I’ve got the original 1926 edition, and also the 1949 revision, it is very funny to see how some of Handy’s recollections were transformed to match the mood of the time (I mean alterations of what today’s readers would be entitled to consider as facts). Handy’s own autobiography (Father of the Blues) is basically sincere, and no-one can deny the popularity of his compositions or their importance in spreading the bues idiom all over the country, and beyond. He was probably, without being aware of the general process, one out of numerous songwriters who grabbed the same idea at the same time, adapting fragments of secular folk-songs to commercial ragtime, which later gave birth to a type of song and a musical revolution in rural areas… the problem lies in what today’s exegetes and blues specialists read between the lines, sti
