Blues

The blues is a traditional African American folk style. The earliest blues was improvised music, usually sung or played on guitar, banjo (an instrument of African origin), or harmonica, that mixed African musical traditions with European folk traditions. Blues artists influenced poor white folk artists to such an extent that the earliest blues and country musicians often played the same songs in exactly the same ways, but record companies (ever progressive) would classify the songs as "race" music or "hillbilly" music depending on the skin color of the musicians. As a result, we now call Jimmie Rodgers’ "Train Whistle Blues" a country song and Leadbelly’s "Midnight Special" a blues song. Isn’t that great? Blues is today associated with the 12-bar form (in which, to the background of a very simple 1-4-5 chord progression, a musician sings a line, sings it again, and then ends the verse with an alternate line), but it is important to note that this is not necessary to blues; early blues songs had many forms and it was not until the first transcription of a blues song (W.C. Handy’s "Memphis Blues" in 1912) that the 12-bar form became thought of as the preeminent blues form. In a way, the 12-bar form has been more of a curse than a blessing to blues, as it has simultaneously calcified people’s attitudes of what "blues" is and made a lot of hacks think they can play blues because the form is so simple.

Almost every American music, from Country to Jazz to Zydeco to Rock and Roll, grew out of Blues, so if Blues had never been born we’d still be listening to Stephen Foster’s "Beautiful Dreamer" in the front parlor.

Similar Styles: Female Vocal Blues, Chicago Blues, Country Blues, Electric Blues, Delta Blues, Texas Blues, Blues Rock, Zydeco Blues

<<Back to Music

<<Back to Home