Elijah Wald (born 1959) is an American folk blues guitarist,

music journalist Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

, and a blues, pop, and cultural music historian. He is a 2002

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

winner for his

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or cassette j-cards. Origin Liner notes are descended from the prog ...

to ''The Arhoolie Records 40th Anniversary Box: The Journey of Chris Strachwitz''. Wald's 2015 book ''Dylan Goes Electric! Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night That Split the Sixties'' served as the basis for the film '' A Complete Unknown.''

Life

Wald, who is of

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

heritage, was born in 1959 in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

.Elijah Wald
P.O.V. Borders – Border Talk, PBS, 2002. Accessed online 2009-10-01. His parents were George Wald (co-recipient of the 1967

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine () is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, acco ...

) and Ruth Hubbard, a biologist, with whom Elijah co-authored '' Exploding the Gene Myth''. At age 18, Wald departed for Europe to try to make a living as a folk-blues guitarist. For approximately the next 12 years, he traveled the world. He fronted a blues band in

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

, Spain, a swing trio in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

, Belgium, and a rock band in

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

, Sri Lanka, and studied with Congolese guitarist Jean-Bosco Mwenda. Returning to the United States, he played in "low dives and honky-tonks", and recorded two albums: the LP ''Songster, Fingerpicker, Shirtmaker'' on his and Bill Morrissey's short-lived label Reckless Records and the CD ''Street Corner Cowboys'' (Black Rose Records, 2000). He also arranged and played guitar on one track of Dave Van Ronk's album of

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

songs, and performed as a sideman with Eric Von Schmidt and for several years with the legendary black string band leader Howard Armstrong. For many years he wrote for the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'' on " roots music" and "

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

"; he also wrote on American and international music for various magazines. In 2000, he was one of many freelancers who left the ''Globe'' in a dispute over reprint rights. By the time he and the ''Globe'' parted ways, he was already becoming an increasingly established writer. He had been a major collaborator in the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

's multimedia project ''

River of Song A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

'', a survey of contemporary music along the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

, and had just finished ''Josh White: Society Blues'', a biography of the folk-blues singer Josh White. Since 2000, he has written numerous books; several of them had CDs as companion pieces. His subject matter has included Mexican ''

corrido The corrido (Spanish pronunciation: Help:IPA/Spanish, oˈriðo is a famous narrative metrical tale and poetry that forms a Ballad (music), ballad. The songs often feature topics such as oppression, history, daily life for criminals, the vaqu ...

s'' and ''

narcocorrido A narcocorrido (, "narco-corrido" or ''drug ballad'') is a subgenre of the Regional Mexican corrido (narrative ballad) genre, from which several other genres have evolved. This type of music is heard and produced on both sides of the Mexico–U ...

s'', hitchhiking, the blues musician Robert Johnson and, in ''How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll'', American popular music for roughly the first three-quarters of the 20th century. He co-authored Dave Van Ronk's posthumously published memoir, ''The Mayor of MacDougal Street'' (the main inspiration for the Coen Brothers movie '' Inside Llewyn Davis''), wrote the Grammy-winning liner notes for ''The Arhoolie Records 40th Anniversary Box: The Journey of Chris Strachwitz'', made an instructional DVD for guitarists on the music of Joseph Spence (part of a series issued by

Stefan Grossman Stefan Grossman (born April 16, 1945) is an American acoustic fingerstyle guitarist and singer, music producer and educator, and co-founder of Kicking Mule records. He is known for his instructional videos and Vestapol line of videos and DVDs. ...

), and has curated and/or written liner notes for numerous CD compilations and re-releases. After teaching on and off in the musicology department of the University of California Los Angeles for several years, he moved back to the Boston area and got a doctorate in ethnomusicology and sociolinguistics from

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...

. He now lives in Philadelphia with his wife, ceramic artist Sandrine Sheon.

Confronting myths

A recurring theme in Wald's work is to identify and confront myths, especially but not exclusively those that have come to surround prominent figures in

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...

. "Myths", Wald remarked in 2002, "are marvelous things, the keys to understanding a culture. Indeed, his first book was a collaboration with his biologist mother entitled ''Exploding the Gene Myth'', in which they wrote that "The myth of the all-powerful

gene In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

is based on flawed science that discounts the environment in which we and our genes exist." "There are no definitive histories," he would come to write in ''How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll'' (2009), "because the past keeps looking different as the present changes."Elijah Wald, ''How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll: An Alternative History of American Popular Music'', 2009, Oxford University Press, .

Bibliography

Books

* ''Jelly Roll Blues - Censored Songs & Hidden Histories''. Hachette Books, 2024 * '' Dylan Goes Electric! Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night That Split the Sixties'', 2015, . *''The Dozens: A History of Rap's Mama'', Oxford University Press, 2012, . *''The Blues: A Very Short Introduction'', Oxford University Press, 2010, . *''How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll: An Alternative History of American Popular Music'', Oxford University Press, 2009, . *''Global Minstrels: Voices of World Music'', Routledge, 2006, . *''Riding With Strangers: A Hitchhiker's Journey'', Chicago Review Press, 2006, . *''Dave Van Ronk: The Mayor of MacDougal Street'' (with Van Ronk), Da Capo, 2005, . *''Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues'', Amistad, 2005, . *''Narcocorrido: A Journey into the Music of Drugs, Guns and Guerrillas'', HarperCollins, 2002, , also published in Spanish as ''Narcocorrido: Un viaje dentro de la música de drogas, armas, y guerrilleros'', Rayo, 2001, . *''Josh White: Society Blues'', University of Massachusetts Press, 2000, . *''River of Song: A Musical Journey Down the Mississippi'' (co-authored with John Junkerman), St. Martin's Press, 1998, . * ''Exploding the Gene Myth: How Genetic Information Is Produced and Manipulated by Scientists, Physicians, Employers, Insurance Companies, Educators, and Law Enforcers'' (with Ruth Hubbard), Beacon Press, 1993, 1997, 1999; 1999 edition .

Discography

* ''Street Corner Cowboys'' (CD, Black Rose Records, 2000) * Dominic Kakolobango, ''African Acoustic'' (CD, Africassette, 2001); producer, acoustic guitar, liner notes * ''Elijah Wald: Songster, Fingerpicker, Shirtmaker'' (LP, Reckless)

Liner notes, curatorship, etc.

This is a very partial list. * ''Snooks Eaglin: New Orleans Street Singer'' (Smithsonian/Folkways; supervised 2005 reissue) * ''The Arhoolie Records 40th Anniversary Box: "The Journey of Chris Strachwitz"'' (Arhoolie, 2002; co-produced and wrote liner notes) * ''Dave Van Ronk: The Mayor of MacDougal Street'' (Rootstock, 2005; curated as a companion piece to the book of the same title) * ''Back to the Crossroads: The Roots of Robert Johnson'' (Yazoo Records, 2005; curated as a companion piece to ''Escaping the Delta'') * ''Corridos y Narcocorridos'' (Fonovisa, 2002; curated as a companion piece to ''Narcocorridos'') * ''Josh White: Free and Equal Blues'' (Smithsonian/Folkways, 2000; curated as a companion piece to ''Josh White: Society Blues'') * ''The Mississippi: River of Song'' (Smithsonian/Folkways, 1999; two-CD set curated as a companion piece to the four-part television series and book of the same title)

Videography

* ''The Guitar Stylings of Joseph Spence'' (instructional DVD, Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop)

Notes

External links

Elijah Wald – Writer, Musician
Wald's official web site
The 'Mayor of MacDougal Street'
KUOW-FM, 2005-04-20. Segment about Dave Van Ronk begins at 00:06:00, including interview of Wald by Megan Sukys, 00:07:30–00:26:30.
Escaping the Delta
KUOW-FM, 2004-02-10. Interview of Wald by Dave Beck about Robert Johnson, 00:01:30–00:20:00.
A Hitchhiker's Guide to America
Talk of the Nation, NPR, 2006-07-06. Interview of Wald by Neal Conan; page also includes an excerpt from Wald's ''Riding with Strangers: A Hitchhiker's Journey''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wald, Elijah Living people 1959 births American people of Austrian-Jewish descent Musicians from Cambridge, Massachusetts Writers from Cambridge, Massachusetts American music historians American acoustic guitarists American male guitarists Grammy Award winners Jewish American historians American male non-fiction writers Jewish American musicians UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music faculty American music journalists Guitarists from Massachusetts Record producers from Massachusetts 20th-century American guitarists Historians from Massachusetts 20th-century American male musicians Tufts University School of Arts and Sciences alumni Historians from California 21st-century American Jews Blues historians Rock music historians