Herbert is a highly entertaining poet who writes both in English and Scots. In 'Bad Shaman Blues' he explores the English and Scottish Borders, and goes on an absurd shamanic flight to Siberia.

Deep Blues explores the archetypal journey of the human psyche through an examination of the blues as a musical genre. The genesis, history, and thematic patterns of the blues are examined from an archetypal perspective and various analytic theories. Mythological and shamanistic parallels are used to provide a deeper understanding of the role of the bluesman, the blues performance, and the innate healing potential of the blues. Universal aspects of human experience and transcendence are revealed through the creative medium of the blues. The atmosphere of Deep Blues is enhanced by the black and white photographs of Tom Smith which capture striking blues performances in the Maxwell Street section of Chicago. Jungian analysts, therapists and psychoanalytic practitioners with an interest in the interaction between creative expression and human experience should find Deep Blues satisfying. Deep Blues should also appeal to enthusiasts of music, ethnomusicology, and the blues.

Charles Keil examines the expressive role of blues bands and performers and stresses the intense interaction between performer and audience. Profiling bluesmen Bobby Bland and B. B. King, Keil argues that they are symbols for the black community, embodying important attitudes and roles—success, strong egos, and close ties to the community. While writing Urban Blues in the mid-1960s, Keil optimistically saw this cultural expression as contributing to the rising tide of raised political consciousness in Afro-America. His new Afterword examines black music in the context of capitalism and black culture in the context of worldwide trends toward diversification. "Enlightening. . . . [Keil] has given a provocative indication of the role of the blues singer as a focal point of ghetto community expression."—John S. Wilson, New York Times Book Review"A terribly valuable book and a powerful one. . . . Keil is an original thinker and . . . has offered us a major breakthrough."—Studs Terkel, Chicago Tribune "[Urban Blues] expresses authentic concern for people who are coming to realize that their past was . . . the source of meaningful cultural values."—Atlantic "An achievement of the first magnitude. . . . He opens our eyes and introduces a world of amazingly complex musical happening."—Robert Farris Thompson, Ethnomusicology "[Keil's] vigorous, aggressive scholarship, lucid style and sparkling analysis stimulate the challenge. Valuable insights come from treating urban blues as artistic communication."—James A. Bonar, Boston Herald

Jim Morrison and the Doors wield an unquestionable influence on popular music and the mainstream, but behind the rock'n'roll myths and the monstrous creation the band called Jimbo, there were four young men in search of something mightier. Led by Jim Morrison's intellectual capacity and thirst for discovery, the band explored its dark themes from a distinctly prophetic and Western perspective: spirituality, drugs, political, environmental and social concerns all played a role - it was the '60s after all. But while Beat poetry, William Blake and Arthur Rimbaud swirled in Morrison's mind, and the band laid down tracks that followed jazz, classical and Far East patterns, they more often than not landed at the center of the blues. Lured by its nighttime rhythm, its cinematic storytelling abilities and inescapable American history, the band resisted, but Jim's connections to its rhyme schemes and emotional depths won out in the end: The blues is at once The Doors' known and secret influence - among others explored here - and Morrison was haunted by them. Chased by the stealthy demon alcohol until the end, and horrified by a past and future all too real to him, this telling of the Doors often-told story makes new connections with the subconscious tidal wave that carried Morrison from Gulf Coast Florida to California gold.

"IN PERSON presents contemporary poetry to readers in a totally new way, with short films of 30 living poets reading their work on two DVDs. [...] an anthology/DVD combination with all the poems from the films includes in the book.

The Blues Alive is a testimony to the unconquerable human spirit and the African-American music that celebrates it. Drawing on his experience as a guitar-player, a composer and an avid student of world music, Ed Flaherty traces the history of the Blues from its roots in the fields of the American South to the present day. Along the way he points out parallels to the Blues in other cultures, including the flamenco music of Spain and the soulful laments of the Bauls of Bengal, India, indicating that the Blues is a timeless tradition that addresses the homesickness in every human heart.