At the heart of the most dramatic blues performances is a sporting event—a Cutting Session, when two guitarists go up against each other like boxers, jutting and thrusting with their best riffs and wildest showmanship until one player is crowned by the audience the winner. And then ... up comes another competitor, looking for scalp.

In Cutting Time, our novel set in the South Side Chicago blues scene in 1963, it’s a young “whippersnapper,” Willie Lee Reed, who’s going up against the older King of the Blues, Heddy Days. Their confrontation opens the novel, and in a long, exhilirating chapter they use every trick and power in their guitars—and their souls—to conquer their opponent. And of course only one man can win....

The novel then shifts to Gary, Indiana, where, in a kind of out-of-town tryout, Willie Lee Reed rouses a bowling-alley blues joint and lands a record contract with the scrappy, mob-tinged Viper Records. He also grabs a passel of trouble in the beautiful, devious, and soul-compromising presence of Betty Ann Norton, better known as Silver for the shock of pewter than runs through her black hair.

Willie Lee has also picks up a couple new friends, Josh Green, a white pioneer in the black blues scene, and Esmé Hunter, a debutante from Detroit who falls for the sleek guitar player. Josh and Esmé do their best to help Willie Lee learn what he must, even as they bear the weight of their own secrets.

In the cauldron of early-’60s Gary, racial battles flare. Romance blooms. Riots and murder erupt. Souls are wagered and nearly lost.

But the central battle between the upstart Willie Lee and the master Heddy Days is never out of mind, and in an unforgettable climactic scene the two face each other again on the same South Side Chicago stage for the second thrilling time. It’s here that everything learned, forgotten, and known again comes into play. And still only one man can triumph....

CLICK HERE to find out about the author of Cutting Time, Robert Dunn.