Author: Debra Devi

Welcome to 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. Since the 1700s, to rap has meant to con, fool, or win a game of wordplay in the Krio (Creole) dialect of Sierra Leone, which is on the west coast of Africa. By the 1870s, “to rap” was in use in…

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. To ramble is to move from place to place, never settling down. In the blues, rambling is also used to describe sexual voraciousness. This usage may stem from the fact that late-night live-sex shows at private…

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 blues glossary The Language of the Blues: From Alcorub to ZuZu (Foreword by Dr. John) at Bluescentric.com. Policy game was an illegal daily lottery introduced in Chicago in 1885, supposedly by a bookie nicknamed Policy Sam. Players bet that certain numbers would be picked from a wheel that was spun each evening, which is why policy was also called “playing the…

New Jersey is rarely thought of as a bastion of the blues–even though Johnny “Clyde” Copeland, John Hammond and Hubert Sumlin lived there, and the state is currently home to blues stars Joe Bonamassa, Shemekia Copeland and Robert Randolph. Promoter, bassist and positive force of nature Mike Griot is doing all he can to change this perception, as founder of North Jersey’s biggest free day-long blues festival: South Mountain International Blues Festival, which takes place September 13 at South Mountain Reservation in West Orange, NJ, twenty minutes west of Newark. Griot also curates the Blues In The Loft series at…

Find out what passagreen really means in this installment of our popular 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 blues glossary The Language of the Blues: From Alcorub to ZuZu (Foreword by Dr. John) at Bluescentric.com. Although legendary blues artist Robert Johnson is presumed to have been poisoned by whiskey laced with strychnine by a jealous husband, blues singer David “Honeyboy” Edwards has said Johnson is more likely to have been poisoned with…

Find out what nation sack really means in this new installment of our popular 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 blues glossary The Language of the Blues: From Alcorub to ZuZu (Foreword by Dr. John) at Bluescentric.com. In the 1800s and early 1900s, African Americans referred to Native American tribes as “nations” and called their territory or reservations “the nation.” African American women adopted the nation sack mojo, or charm, from the…

Find out what Mr. Charlie really means in this new installment of our popular weekly series, The Language of the Blues, in which author/musician Debra Devi explores the meaning of a word or phrase found in the blues. Grab a signed copy of Devi’s award-winning blues glossary The Language of the Blues: From Alcorub to ZuZu (Foreword by Dr. John) at Bluescentric.com. According to The Land Where the Blues Began by Alan Lomax (a must-read book for blues fans!), Charles was a popular name among Southern whites with “aristocratic pretensions,” so “it was a safe bet to call the boss…

Discover the blues origins of MOTHERFUCKER in this new installment of our popular weekly series, The Language of the Blues, in which author/musician Debra Devi explores the meaning of a word or phrase found in the blues. Grab a signed copy of Devi’s award-winning blues glossary The Language of the Blues: From Alcorub to ZuZu (Foreword by Dr. John) at Bluescentric.com. The word “motherfucker” was used in English before African slaves arrived in the colonies, but much less frequently and casually than it came into use among African slaves and African Americans. In the African American community and in the…

Find out what MOONSHINE really means in this new installment of our popular weekly series, The Language of the Blues, in which author/musician Debra Devi explores the meaning of a word or phrase found in the blues. Grab a signed copy of Devi’s award-winning blues glossary The Language of the Blues: From Alcorub to ZuZu (Foreword by Dr. John) at Bluescentric.com. Moonshine is illegally distilled whiskey made by leaving a mash of sugar combined with fruit, potatoes or grain to ferment. After fermentation, the mash is strained and the leftover liquid boiled. The vapor rising from the boiling mash liquid…

Here’s the latest installment of our weekly series, The Language of the Blues, in which Debra Devi explores the meaning of a word or phrase found in the blues. Grab a signed copy of Devi’s award-winning blues glossary The Language of the Blues: From Alcorub to ZuZu (Foreword by Dr. John) at Bluescentric.com. Hoodoo is not Voodoo, although the two are often confused. Voodoo (more properly spelled Vodou) is a religion derived from one of the world’s most ancient religions, Vodun, which originated in West Africa. Hoodoo, in contrast, is an African American system of folklore. Hoodoo consists of herbal…