Blues

Blues music is a genre with deep roots in African-American history and culture. It originated in the Southern United States in the late 19th century, developing from a mix of African musical traditions, work songs, spirituals, and folk music. The blues became a significant musical form that has had a profound impact on various other genres, including jazz, rock and roll, and R&B.

The most common and recognizable form of the blues is the 12-bar blues progression. It consists of three lines of four bars each, following a specific chord pattern (I-IV-V) that repeats throughout the song.

Originally a blues was a song of sorrow, sung slowly to the accompaniment of piano or guitar. A blues is 12 measures long, and typically the first line is repeated.

Depending on whom you ask, the blues can be all kinds of things with all kinds of meanings. But the derivation of the phrase is clear: "the blues" comes to us from "the blue devils," a nineteenth-century mental affliction that the OED defines as despondency or spiritual depression. And even before that, British authors of the sixteenth century used to write of being in a "blue funk."

A blues tradition developed separately from that of jazz, but blues harmonies and the 12-measure form have always enriched the jazz tradition.

Country blues had its roots in the rural areas of the American South.  It was characterized by its raw, acoustic sound and often featured solo performances by itinerant musicians using acoustic guitars, harmonicas, and other simple instruments. Country blues spoke of the hardships and experiences of African-Americans in the rural South, reflecting their daily struggles and emotions.

During the early 20th century, the Great Migration saw the movement of millions of African-Americans from the rural South to urban areas in the North and West, seeking better economic opportunities and escaping the oppressive conditions of the Jim Crow era. This mass migration brought rural blues musicians into contact with new audiences in cities like Chicago, Detroit, and New York, which had more extensive recording and entertainment industries.

W.C. Handy's early hit blues song, "The Memphis Blues" was published in 1912. Handy (November 16, 1873 - March 28, 1958) is credited with popularizing the blues by publishing the song "St. Louis Blues" in 1914. It became one of the first blues compositions to achieve national recognition. Often called the "Father of the Blues," Handy was one of the first composers to incorporate the blues idiom into song forms and orchestrations.

Mamie Smith was the first blues singer to appear on the pop charts. Her song, "Crazy Blues," was released in 1920 and sold over a million copies. This was a major breakthrough for the blues genre, as it showed that there was a large audience for blues music outside of the African-American community.

 By the mid-1930s, country blues was being influenced and transformed by the emergence of urban blues, but it did not entirely replace it. Instead, a new style called Delta blues, named after the Mississippi Delta region, began to gain popularity and influence within the broader blues genre. Delta blues is characterized by its raw and emotive sound, often featuring solo performances by talented bluesmen who played slide guitar and used bottleneck techniques. Artists like Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, and Son House were key figures in the development of Delta blues.

Many an early bluesman in the Delta made his first steps toward learning the guitar by nailing one end of a wire to a wall and playing the wire like a guitar string.

 Robert Johnson is considered one of the most influential figures in the history of blues music. He was a skilled guitarist and a master of the slide guitar and bottleneck technique. His distinctive and innovative guitar playing, along with his haunting vocal style, set him apart from other blues musicians of his time.

Although Johnson's recordings were not big commercial successes during his lifetime, his music has had a profound and lasting impact on the blues genre and beyond. His songs, such as "Cross Road Blues," "Love in Vain," and "Sweet Home Chicago," showcased his virtuosic guitar skills and emotional delivery, making him an influential figure in the development of Mississippi Delta-style blues.

Louis Jordan's 1942 hit song "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie" is often credited as one of the first, if not the first, jump blues record. Jump blues is a style of blues that emerged in the 1940s, characterized by a lively, up-tempo rhythm, horn-driven arrangements, and a strong influence from swing and jazz music.

After many black Americans moved from the rural South to Northern cities in the 1940s, Chicago became the center of blues recording. There a new kind of blues began to appear. It featured electrically amplified guitars, and even harmonicas, and drummers who emphasized afterbeats (beats 2 and 4 of each measure; nearly all blues are in 4/4 meter). The simplest boogie-woogie rhythms were the basis of Chicago blues.

Blind Willie Johnson  (January 25, 1897 – September 18, 1945) was a blues guitarist who was blinded as a boy, abused by his father, and died penniless from disease after sleeping bundled in wet newspaper in a burnt down house. 

A revival of interest in Johnson's music began in the 1960s, following his inclusion on Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music.  Carl Sagan preserved his legacy by selecting one of his songs , "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground," for the Voyager Golden Record in 1977.

Muddy Waters is often credited with popularizing electric blues. He embraced amplified instruments, which transformed the sound of the blues and laid the foundation for modern blues and rock music.

B.B. King earned the title "The King of the Blues" for his immense contributions to the genre and his iconic guitar playing style.  King named his beloved guitar "Lucille" after a woman who was at the center of a fight that resulted in a fire at a venue where he was performing. He rushed back into the burning building to save his guitar and subsequently gave it the name "Lucille" as a reminder never to do something so foolish again.

In the mid-20th century, the blues also played a significant role in shaping rock and roll, with many rock musicians drawing inspiration from the blues' rhythmic and emotional elements.

Blues music has seen the contributions of many influential women, such as Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Etta James. These talented artists broke barriers and played a crucial role in shaping the genre.

The Blues Foundation established the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980 to honor the achievements of the most significant figures in blues music history. It includes musicians, producers, promoters, and others who have made a lasting impact on the genre.

Sources http://www.shmoop.com/blues-history/trivia.html, Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia © 1998 The Learning Company, Inc