Blues

:For other uses, see blues (disambiguation)

History

Blues has evolved from the sparse music of poor black laborers into a wide variety of complex styles and subgenres, spawning regional variations across the United States and, later, Europe, Africa and elsewhere. What is now considered "blues" as well as what is now "country music" both arose at approximately the same time and place. Both recorded blues and country can be traced to the 1920s, when the popular record industry developed and created marketing categories called "race music" and "hillbilly music" to sell music by and for blacks and whites respectively. At the time, there was no clear musical division between "blues" and "country", except for the race of the performer, and even that was sometimes incorrectly documented by the record companies {{ref|bluescountry}}.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When the blues was first recorded, there were two major divisions, one being a traditional rural country blues and the other a diverse set of more polished city blues or urban blues. Country blues was often unaccompanied, or performed with only a banjo or guitar, and was highly-improvised, while the city blues was much more codified and ornate {{ref|countrycity}}. Later, the blues evolved into a bewildering array of styles, some of which had a formative influence on other kinds of American popular music, most importantly including jazz and rock and roll.

Related Topics:
Country blues - American popular music - Jazz - Rock and roll

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Origins

Main article: Origins of the blues

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Little is known about the exact origins of the music we now know as the blues {{ref|littleknown}}. Early forms of the blues evolved in and around the Mississippi Delta in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The most important direct antecedents of the blues was the spiritual, a form of religious song that arose during the Great Awakening of religious fervor in the early 19th century. Other important precursors to the modern blues include black work songs of the slavery era and the later 19th century, which were simple songs without harmony or accompaniment, typically expressing the singer's poor luck and bemoaning the hard work being done. From these roots, the style now known as the blues arose, appearing by the beginning of the 20th century. An important testimony of this evolution can be found in the recordings of Henry Thomas.

Related Topics:
Mississippi Delta - Southern United States - 19th - 20th - Spiritual - Great Awakening - Henry Thomas

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Pre-war blues

Flush with the success of appropriating the ragtime craze for commercial gain, the American sheet music publishing industry wasted no time in pursuing similar commercial success with the blues. In 1912, three popular blues-like compositions were published, precipitating the Tin Pan Alley adoption of blues elements: "Baby Seals' Blues" by Arthur Seals, "Dallas Blues" by Hart Wand and Memphis Blues" by W. C. Handy {{ref|1912}}. Handy went on to become a very popular composer, and billed himself as the "Father of the Blues", though his compositions are only debatably blues at all {{ref|Handypseudoblues}}; they can be described as a fusion of blues with ragtime and jazz, a merger facilitated using the Latin habanera rhythm that had long been a part of ragtime {{ref|habanera}}.

Related Topics:
Ragtime - Sheet music - 1912 - Tin Pan Alley - Arthur Seals - Hart Wand - Memphis Blues - W. C. Handy - Habanera

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the 1920s, the blues became a major element of American popular music. With the rise of the recording industry, there was increased popularity of country blues singers and guitarists like Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lonnie Johnson, Son House and Blind Blake. Jefferson was one of the few country blues performers to widely record, and may have been the first to record the slide guitar style, in which a guitar is fretted with a knife blade, the sawed-off neck of a liquor bottle, or other implement; the slide guitar went on to become an important part of the Delta blues {{ref|LemonJefferson}}.

Related Topics:
1920s - Guitarist - Blind Lemon Jefferson - Lonnie Johnson - Son House - Blind Blake - Slide guitar - Delta blues

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There were many regional styles of country blues in the early 20th century, of which a few became especially important. The Delta blues was a rootsy style of country blues, accompanied most typically by slide guitar and harmonica, characterized by a sparse style and passionate vocalization. The most influential performer of this style is usually said to be Robert Johnson,{{ref|RJohnson}} who was little recorded but combined elements of both urban and rural blues in a unique manner. Along with Robert Johnson, major artists of this style are Charley Patton and Son House. Aside from the Delta blues, Southeast "delicate and lyrical" Piedmont blues tradition was also important, best represented by people like Blind Willie McTell and Blind Boy Fuller {{ref|Piedmontblues}}.

Related Topics:
Slide guitar - Harmonica - Robert Johnson - Charley Patton - Son House - Piedmont blues - Blind Willie McTell - Blind Boy Fuller

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Urban male performers included one of the most popular black musicians of the era, Big Bill Broonzy, and Leroy Carr, who made the unusual choice to accompany himself on the piano to some acclaim {{ref|Carr}}. However, classic female urban blues singers were extremely popular in the 1920s, among them Mamie Smith, Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Victoria Spivey. These women were among the first major musical stars in the country, having begun their recording careers beginning in 1923. Bessie Smith is perhaps the most well-known and respected of these women, and was known as one of the top performers of the day, and was called the "Empress of the Blues" {{ref|BessieSmith}}; her mentor, Ma Rainey, was similarly respected and is called the "Mother of Blues". Both performers used a "method of singing each song around centre tones, perhaps in order to project her voice more easily to the back of a room", while Smith "would also choose to sing a song in an unusual key, and her artistry in bending and stretching notes with her beautiful, powerful contralto to accommodate her own interpretation was unsurpassed" {{ref|SmithRainey}}.

Related Topics:
Big Bill Broonzy - Leroy Carr - Classic female urban blues - 1920s - Mamie Smith - Gertrude "Ma" Rainey - Bessie Smith - Victoria Spivey - 1923

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Early post-war blues

After World War II and in the 1950s increased urbanization and the use of amplification led to new styles of electric blues music, popular in cities such as Chicago, Detroit and Kansas City. These scenes produced such artists as Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Willie Dixon Little Walter, T-Bone Walker and John Lee Hooker.

Related Topics:
World War II - 1950s - Chicago - Detroit - Kansas City - Howlin' Wolf - Muddy Waters - Jimmy Reed - Willie Dixon - Little Walter - T-Bone Walker - John Lee Hooker

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

One kind of early 1940s urban blues was the jump blues, a style heavily influenced by big band music and characterized by the use of the guitar in the rhythm section, a jazzy, up-tempo sound, declamatory vocals and the use of the saxophone or other brass instruments. The jump blues of people like Louis Jordan and Big Joe Turner later became the primary basis for rock and roll and rhythm and blues {{ref|jumpblues}}.

Related Topics:
Jump blues - Big band - Saxophone - Brass instrument - Louis Jordan - Big Joe Turner - Rock and roll - Rhythm and blues

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Another important style of 1940s urban blues was boogie-woogie, a style characterized by a regular bass figure, an ostinato and the most familiar example of shifts of level, in the left hand which elaborates on each chord and trills and decorations from the right hand. Though most often piano based, it is not strictly a solo piano style, and is also used to accompany singers and as a solo part in bands and small combos. Boogie-woogie was pioneered by the Chicago-based Jimmy Yancey; Chicago also produced other musicians in the style, like Clarence "Pine Top" Smith and Earl Hines, who "linked the propulsive left-hand rhythms of the ragtime pianists with melodic figures similar to those of Armstrong's trumpet in the right hand" {{ref|YanceyHines}}.

Related Topics:
Boogie-woogie - Ostinato - Jimmy Yancey - Clarence "Pine Top" Smith - Earl Hines

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Blues in the 60s and 70s

By the beginning of the 1960s, African American music like rock and roll and soul were parts of mainstream popular music. White performers like Elvis Presley and Bill Haley had brought black music to new audiences, both within the United States and abroad. Though many listeners simply enjoyed the catchy pop tunes of the day, others were inspired to learn more about the roots of rock, soul, R&B and gospel. Especially in the United Kingdom, many young men and women formed bands to emulate blues legends. By the end of the decade, white-performed blues in a number of styles, mostly fusions of blues and rock, had come to dominate popular music across much of the world.

Related Topics:
African American music - Rock and roll - Soul - Elvis Presley - Bill Haley

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Blues masters like John Lee Hooker, Albert King, B.B. King, Buddy Guy and Muddy Waters continued to perform to enthusiastic audiences, inspiring new artists steeped in traditional blues, such as New York born Taj Mahal. Mahal's music was featured prominently in Sounder, a 1972 Hollywood Oscar-nominated movie set in rural Louisiana in the 1930s. Sounder did much to revive interest in old-school, acoustic blues. Eight years later, the film The Blues Brothers helped increase awareness of mid-20th century-style urban blues among a younger audience.

Related Topics:
Albert King - B.B. King - Buddy Guy - Taj Mahal - Sounder - 1972 - Hollywood - Oscar - Louisiana - 1930s - The Blues Brothers - 20th century

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

British blues

Main article: British blues

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The appeal of blues remained strong in later decades. The music of the Civil Rights and Free Speech movements in the U.S. prompted a resurgence of interest in American roots music in general and in early African-American music, specifically. But what made blues really come across to the young white audiences in the early 1960s was the style of British blues that developed in England, when dozens of bands such as Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, and Cream took to covering the classic blues numbers from either the Delta or Chicago blues traditions.

Related Topics:
Civil Rights - Free Speech - British blues - Fleetwood Mac - John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers - The Rolling Stones - The Yardbirds - Cream - Delta - Chicago blues

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Blues-rock

Main article: Blues-rock

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The British blues musicians of the early 1960s would ultimately inspire a number of American blues-rock fusion performers, including Canned Heat, Janis Joplin, Johnny Winter, The J. Geils Band and others, who at first discovered the form by listening to British performers, but in turn went on to explore the blues tradition on their own. One blues-rock performer, Jimi Hendrix was a rarity in his field at the time, a black man who played psychedelic blues-rock; he was a virtuoso guitarist however, and a pioneer who innovated the use of distortion and feedback in his music {{ref|Hendrix}}. Through these artists and others both earlier and later, blues music has been strongly influential in the development of rock music.

Related Topics:
Blues-rock - Canned Heat - Janis Joplin - Johnny Winter - The J. Geils Band - Jimi Hendrix - Psychedelic - Distortion - Feedback - Rock music

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Blues from the 1980s to the present

Since 1980, blues has continued to thrive in both traditional and new forms through the continuing work of Taj Mahal and the music of Robert Cray, Albert Collins, Bonnie Raitt, Keb' Mo', Stevie Ray Vaughan and others. Around this time blues publications such as Living Blues and Blues Revue began appearing at newstands, major cities began forming blues societies and outdoor blues festivals became more common. More nightclubs and venues emerged, such as Manny's Car Wash in New York, the Slippery Noodle Inn in Indianapolis, and the Zoo Bar in Lincoln, Nebraska. In the 1990s and today blues performers are found touching elements from almost every musical genre.

Related Topics:
1980 - Taj Mahal - Robert Cray - Albert Collins - Bonnie Raitt - Keb' Mo' - Stevie Ray Vaughan - Nightclub - Manny's Car Wash - Slippery Noodle Inn - Zoo Bar - 1990s

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~