Author: Debra Devi

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…

This is 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. A mojo is a hoodoo charm, a “prayer in a bag.” The mojo is an ineffectual bundle of twigs, nail clippings, and other junk, however, until a conjurer traps a spirit inside it. The mojo is the vital spark within the medicine–the spirit of an ancestor, or a…

when Les Paul famously remarked, “I want a sound that has never been heard before,” he was probably not thinking of the unique cacophony created by Steve Vai’s supersonic pinch harmonics and Joe Bonamassa’s pentatonic…

Who’s that man you’re fooling around with!? Check out this weeks edition of Language of the Blues and find out what that man is called!

This is the latest installment of our weekly series, The Language of the Blues, in which author/rocker 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. Also available as an eBook from Amazon Kindle. Like its namesake in ancient Egypt, Memphis, Tennessee, is the gateway to a great river’s delta – the triangle-shaped piece of land formed when a river splits into smaller rivers before it flows into an ocean. Memphis…

Maxwell Street was where Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Howlin’ Wolf, Elmore James, “Maxwell Street” Jimmy Davis and other legendary blues artists played their first performances! Check out the newest LOTB!