Denise Sullivan

“Shaman’s Blues” isn’t the first book on the artistic influences of The Doors and probably not the last. The list of influences on The Doors veers from psychology, poetry, classical music, jazz, anthropology, film, literature, psychedelic drugs and the blues. This is where “Shaman’s Blues” excels in exploring The Doors blues roots.

Author Denise Sullivan takes the reader through some of the usual background and history of The Doors and explores some of the lesser known show more influences on The Doors and brings them out of the shadows. From the world of film she takes a brief look at the movie “The Fugitive Kind” written by Tennessee Williams and starring Marlon Brando as the snakeskin jacket wearing, guitar playing protagonist who sets female libidos aflame in one Louisiana small town. From the world of music, how a Bo Diddley song saved Jim Morrison’s life, and how the group Canned Heat had a much greater impact and influence on Jim Morrison than has been previously known.

Sullivan’s expertise is in her background and knowledge of the blues from its earliest forms through modern day usage such as rap. It is this expertise that Sullivan uses to best advantage in relating the blues as a source of inspiration for The Doors. She looks at how even though The Doors were a west coast band they were more influenced by the Chicago style blues of Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Willie Dixon, and John Lee Hooker than the West Coast Blues of T-Bone Walker, Percy Mayfield, or Charles Brown. In a superlative final chapter, Sullivan closes the circle on The Doors as a blues band and how they’ve influenced contemporary bands especially their influence on rap artists. show less