The devil is the most charismatic and important figure in the blues tradition. He's not just the music's namesake (""the devil's music""), but a shadowy presence who haunts an imagined Mississippi crossroads where, it is claimed, Delta bluesman Robert Johnson traded away his soul in exchange for extraordinary prowess on the guitar. Yet, as scholar and musician Adam Gussow argues, there is much more to the story of the devil and the blues than these cliched understandings. In this groundbreaking study, Gussow takes the full measure of the devil's presence. Working from original transcriptions of more than 125 recordings released during the past ninety years, Gussow explores the varied uses to which black southern blues people have put this trouble-sowing, love-wrecking, but also empowering figure. The book culminates with a bold reinterpretation of Johnson's music and a provocative investigation of the way in which the citizens of Clarksdale, Mississippi, managed to rebrand a commercial hub as ""the crossroads"" in 1999, claiming Johnson and the devil as their own.

This book was based an event to observe the supernatural, theoretically provoked by a specific format of Deliverance Prayer. The purpose of this treatise/study was to ascertain, whether or not a specific format of Deliverance Prayer would cause impact in the form of reaction(s), and or behavior(s) on the lives of individuals seeking deliverance. The study did establish that impact occurred in the form of a set of reaction(s), and, behavior(s). Some areas of history, controversy and interpretation from different authors and practitioners, including myself, relative to deliverance/spiritual warfare ministry, had to be and were reviewed. Four of the ten study participants were interviewed four months later relative to the impact on their lives; based on their feedback impact did and has continued to occur. The vehicles for this endeavor included: the Journey, Theory/Literature Review, Methodology, Ministry Research Event, Post Ministry Research Event Data Review, Post Ministry Event - Impact Evaluation Interviews, Reflection and Study Process Impact chapters, of this study. Appendixes A through F present study data result categories, some definitions of terms used in this study, and selected reference reviews.

This Is A New Release Of The Original 1865 Edition.