Podcast
Fresh Air
The book was written as a companion to a PBS series that never aired, and Francis completed it while seriously ill, later promoting it on live TV.
He was asked to write the companion book. He wrote the book, but the series was never completed and never broadcast. The status of the series and how it would affect the book was very stressinducing,...
— Episode: Terry Gross Remembers Her Late Husband,...
Episode: Terry Gross Remembers Her Late Husband, Francis Da...
The book was written as a companion to a PBS series that never aired, and Francis completed it while seriously ill, later promoting it on live TV.
He was asked to write the companion book. He wrote the book, but the series was never completed and never broadcast. The status of the series and how it would affect the book was very stressinducing, and that was in addition to the pressure of writing the book.
Here's a passage from the 1995 book The History of the Blues, the book that Francis handed in before the hospital. The passage is about blind Willie Johnson...
After Francis' blues book was published, he received a confounding invitation to sell the book live on TV on the cable home shopping network QVC.