Blues is a genre of music as American as hot apple pie, and just a delectable to the senses. Sadly, it also seems to be slipping out of popular culture due to the loss of many of the greats of yesteryear and the crying need for a generation to pass the torch to. Blues master Nat Dove, also known as the “Texas Boogie King,” is taking his love for the music on the road to drive home to tomorrow’s musicians and scholars, and also artists in other mediums, the importance of this musical genre.
It would be difficult to find a musician more suited than Dove for traveling the U.S. to lecture on the blues. He has played all over the world for more than 40 years, and worked as an educator for many years as well. His UCSB lecture, titled “Blues Music Influences on the Harlem Renaissance,” recounts the ways in which this music affected African-American cultural and artistic movements from 1918 to the 1930s. The period represents a cultural explosion more than just African-American musicians, writers, and artists of all stripes; Dove will talk about how the blues was infused into the very core of this cultural growth.
The free lecture will be held Wednesday, August 19, 2 to 3 p.m. in Room 1174 of the Humanities and Social Sciences Building (HSSB) at UCSB. It is hosted by the UCSB Department of Black Studies.