Komara, the Crane Librarian at SUNY at Potsdam, assembled more than 2,000 articles for this two-volume blues encyclopedia. The exhaustive catalogue of biographical entries features blues artists, historians, songwriters, and label owners from all time periods and includes items that might seem obscure (e.g., the Chicago-based R&B band Big Twist and the Mellow Fellows). The encyclopedia also provides entries for important record labels, instruments, musical styles, individual songs, geographic regions, historiography, aspects of the business, and additional topics that have been lacking in other encyclopedic efforts: entries such as Blues Folklore and Juke Joints. The blues often gets lumped together with jazz, folk, or gospel; it is rare to see it stand on its own as an encyclopedic subject. This title clearly fills a gap by offering multifaceted coverage in one place