Guido van Rijn
Guido van Rijn (11 April 1950) is a Dutch blues and gospel historian.
Van Rijn received his Ph.D. from Leiden University in 1995 for Roosevelt's Blues: African-American Blues and Gospel Songs on FDR. Two years later the commercial edition of this dissertation was published by University Press of Mississippi with the same title. In 2004 The Truman and Eisenhower Blues: African-American Blues and Gospel Songs, 1945-1960 was published by Continuum. The third volume of Guido van Rijn's research into blues and gospel singers' reactions to American politics appeared as Kennedy's Blues: African-American Blues and Gospel Songs on JFK (University Press of Mississippi, 2007).
The final three volumes were published by Agram Blues Books: President Johnson's Blues (2009), The Nixon and Ford Blues (2011) and The Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, Bush Jr. & Obama Blues (2012). These six volumes are all accompanied by Agram CDs presenting examples of the songs analyzed in the books.
In 1970 Van Rijn was co-founder of the Nederlandse Blues en Boogie Organisatie (NBBO). In the seventies he organized a great many concerts by African-American blues artists in the Netherlands, at first in Amstelveen, and subsequently in Amsterdam and Groningen; these culminated in the renowned Blues Estafette, the sequel to the 1979 NBBO Festival in Utrecht.
Van Rijn regularly writes for specialist blues magazines. His day-time job is teaching English at Kennemer Lyceum in Overveen, The Netherlands, where he is also curator of the school archive.
At present Van Rijn is working with Alex van der Tuuk on a four-part discography of the Paramount blues label. Agram Blues Books have already published the first three volumes: New York Recording Laboratories L Matrix Series (2011),[1] New York Recording Laboratories 20000 & Gennett Matrix Series (2012) and New York Recording Laboratories Rodeheaver, Marsh & 2000 Series (2013).