Of Bloodlines and Blue Notes

Of Bloodlines and Blue Notes is a hybrid work of music writing and cultural criticism that brings together lyrics, album notes, and critical essays rooted in Black American music as lived practice. Written in conversation with three connected albums, it treats songs as evidence of inheritance shaped by history, labor, survival, and family memory. Blade writes from inside the tradition, reflecting on lineage, the ethics of listening, and what it means to carry the blues forward in the present.