Author: Debra Devi

This is the latest installment of our weekly series The Language of the Blues, in which author and rock musician Debra Devi explores the meaning of a word or phrase found in the blues. Grab a signed copy of Devi’s award-winning glossary The Language of the Blues: From Alcorub to Zuzu (Foreword by Dr. John) at Bluescentric.com. Also available as an eBook. Texas blues guitarist Johnny Winter once said, “I can tell if I like a man’s style after listening to his vibrato for ten seconds.” Putting aside Winter’s inadvertent declaration that only men play electric guitar, he makes an…

This is the latest installment of our weekly series The Language of the Blues, in which author and rock musician Debra Devi explores the meaning of a word or phrase found in the blues. Grab a signed copy of Devi’s award-winning glossary The Language of the Blues: From Alcorub to Zuzu (Foreword by Dr. John) at Bluescentric.com. Also available as an eBook. Vestapol is an open D Major tuning for the guitar. This means that if a guitar tuned in Vestapol is strummed without fretting any notes, it will produce a D Major chord (D A D F# A D). Vestapol…

This is the latest installment of our weekly series The Language of the Blues, in which author and rock musician Debra Devi explores the meaning of a word or phrase found in the blues. Grab a signed copy of Devi’s award-winning glossary The Language of the Blues: From Alcorub to Zuzu (Foreword by Dr. John) at Bluescentric.com. Also available as an eBook. Trim is slang for female genitalia. In the blues, it’s usually used by a man to express a need or an intention, as in “I’m gonna get me some trim tonight.” This usage has been around since the…

This is the latest installment of our weekly series The Language of the Blues, in which author and rock musician Debra Devi explores the meaning of a word or phrase found in the blues. Grab a signed copy of Devi’s award-winning glossary The Language of the Blues: From Alcorub to Zuzu (Foreword by Dr. John) at Bluescentric.com. Also available as an eBook. In the blues, to trick someone is to put a spell on him or her. Casting spells is called laying tricks, while performing a trick is a euphemism for prostitution. A prostitute’s client is also called a trick,…

This is the latest installment of our weekly series The Language of the Blues, in which author and rock musician Debra Devi explores the meaning of a word or phrase found in the blues. Grab a signed copy of Devi’s award-winning glossary The Language of the Blues: From Alcorub to Zuzu (Foreword by Dr. John) at Bluescentric.com. Also available as an eBook. A toby is a good-luck charm or amulet. In Flash of the Spirit, art historian Robert Farris Thompson speculated that the word toby was probably derived from “the tobe charms of Kongo: earth from a grave plus palm…

This is the latest installment of our weekly series The Language of the Blues, in which author and rock musician Debra Devi explores the meaning of a word or phrase found in the blues. Grab a signed copy of Devi’s award-winning glossary The Language of the Blues: From Alcorub to Zuzu (Foreword by Dr. John) at Bluescentric.com. Also available as an eBook. Robert Johnson was only twenty-seven when he died in 1938, but he left behind twenty-nine amazing songs. During his lifetime, though, Johnson had only one minor hit, “Terraplane Blues.” Johnson recorded that song along with the more enduring…

This is the latest installment of our weekly series The Language of the Blues, in which author and rock musician Debra Devi explores the meaning of a word or phrase found in the blues. Grab a signed copy of Devi’s award-winning glossary The Language of the Blues: From Alcorub to Zuzu (Foreword by Dr. John) at Bluescentric.com. Also available as an eBook. According to country blues singer, guitarist and songwriter Big Bill Broonzy, a sweetback papa was a man who avoided manual labor by playing the blues and sponging off of women. “These musicians was not seen in the day,”…

This is the latest installment of our weekly series The Language of the Blues, in which author and rock musician Debra Devi explores the meaning of a word or phrase found in the blues. Grab a signed copy of Devi’s award-winning glossary The Language of the Blues: From Alcorub to Zuzu (Foreword by Dr. John) at Bluescentric.com. Also available as an eBook. A passway is a path frequented by an intended hoodoo victim, such as the path to the person’s doorstep. In hoodoo lore, preading goofer dust or something similarly noxious on the passway places a curse on the person…

This is the latest installment of our weekly series The Language of the Blues, in which author and rock musician Debra Devi explores the meaning of a word or phrase found in the blues. Grab a signed copy of Devi’s entertaining & award-winning glossary The Language of the Blues: From Alcorub to Zuzu (Foreword by Dr. John) at Bluescentric.com. Also available as an eBook. In “The Ins and Outs of My Girl,” Bo Carter sang, “she got something like a stingaree” that “ain’t in her stocking, man, you know it’s just above.” The stingaree is related to the stingray, and…

This is the latest installment of our weekly series The Language of the Blues, in which author and rock musician Debra Devi explores the meaning of a word or phrase found in the blues. Grab a signed copy of Devi’s entertaining & award-winning glossary The Language of the Blues: From Alcorub to Zuzu (Foreword by Dr. John) at Bluescentric.com. Also available as an eBook. Stavin’ Chain was a 19th-century rail worker of legendary strength and stamina. According to Lil Johnson’s 1937 recording of “Stavin’ Chain,” he was the chief engineer on a train, and a big, strong man who could…