A case of the blues: Music, blindness, and citizenship

This chapter extends the research on disability and citizenship and within music in particular to a consideration of blind blues musicians, as members of a musical cultural community, bound by its own rules of participation. Particular attention is paid to the use of the sobriquet "Blind," as applied to so many of these artists. To be "Blind" carries meaning beyond sightlessness, while implying a status that is at once "almost an honorific" and a valuable marketing tool (for record labels), while rarely providing appropriate remuneration or security for the artists themselves.