Bothered Blue Once More: The Barrett Rude Jr. and the Subtle Distinctions Story

"The singer’s role is deceptive; in identifying and exploring disintegration and other potentially destructive aspects of black American life he or she is performing an integrative function . . . the sense of identity is built not only into the performer-audience relationship . . . but into the very relationships between the sounds he or she makes–the musical techniques themselves."
–Christopher Small, Music of the Common Tongue