Introduction
Blues dominated many modern musical genres, speaking to emotional spirits across the globe. It also reflected Black American suffering, emerging in the late 19th century and laying the groundwork for rock, jazz, and R ‘n’ B.
Forgotten catalysts: Big Mama Thornton and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Thornton sang with an explosive ferocity and was a leggy, overpowering presence on stage. Tharpe’s guitar work and gospel baggage influenced early rock and roll.
Blind Lemon Jefferson’s distinctive guitar style left an equally significant legacy. His slippery, intricate finger-picking was taken to heart by scores of emulators over the following decades. The most visionary of them all was Lonnie Johnson, who fused blues with jazz.
And their constant tinkering with the form helped blues become regional music with larger audiences. These innovators and their predecessors are essential to understanding the development of blues; they’re vital to grasping how a distinctively southern, working-class, and African-American musical style found wider audiences and cultural legitimacy over time.
The Origins of Blues Music
Blues music dates back to the late 19th century. It originated in the African American communities in the Deep South. Sharecroppers and plantation workers sang about hardship using this form of music.
While blues tunes were European in their structure, rhythms, and melodies came straight from African musical forms, and the prevalence of call-and-response follows a similar pattern.
Some work songs and spirituals also became blues songs, whose lyrics often spoke of grief and hope. Within the blues, simple chord progressions and arpent rhythms existed in the form of repetitive patterns.
The guitar, harmonica, and piano – now familiar blues instruments – became relevant in this decade. W C Handy and Robert Johnson were also important figures, ushering in an age of mass exposure across America.
Blues music narrated stories that happened in ordinary people’s daily lives. Various themes covered love, loss, and race struggle in different poems. The lyrics often demonstrated a private or intimate life happened.
Through the Great Migration, blues music moved north into urban cities. Chicago and Detroit became blues hotbeds. Blues music went on to inform many styles, from jazz to rock ’n’ roll.
The enduring legacy of the blues speaks to creativity and ingenuity in the toughest of circumstances. It is a genre that refuses to die.
The Pioneers of Blues
Blues music is an integral part of African-American history and culture, influenced by such figures as W C Handy, who is known as the ‘Father’ of the Blues as a result of his composing and performing rules for blues music, which became popularised – his ‘St Louis Blues’ is one of the best-known blues songs.
‘The Mother of the Blues’ was one of the first female blues singers, and one of the first to sing the blues to mass audiences, inspiring so many to follow. Her commanding voice and body language – brought the blues into popular consciousness.
Bessie Smith, known as the ‘Empress of the Blues’, was another one to watch. Her 1920s and ’30s recordings helped bring blues to a wider audience, making her one of the highest-paid black performers of her day.
Each of those early innovators helped to establish a distinctive musical form that expressed the joys and struggles of African American life. Many blues songs are about romantic love fulfilled or lost, but the genre also embraces hardship and resilience.
W C Handy’s compositions codified the blues’ form; Ma Rainey’s performances reflected its rich emotional content, while the recordings of Bessie Smith established its potential to cross over to the forefront of popular music.
Together, they laid a foundation for generations of blues musicians to follow who, in turn, would have their influence felt in later music. The raw, visceral blues of men such as Beale Street Sheiks, Peetie Wheatstraw, and Big Joe Williams, to name just a few of a near-endless list, would eventually become manifest in the music of the likes of Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and B B King and onwards into the music of today.
These roughneck pioneers kept blues alive in America, nurturing it to a major genre of US music.
The Blues Instrumentalists
Blues instrumentalists play a big part in the blues effect, the mood, and forms, and are therefore paramount. Guitar players, the blues harp (ie, harmonicas) and (up to some preference) the piano are particularly noteworthy for providing what makes genuine blues.
Easily the most common instrument you’ll ever hear in blues, the guitarist is integral to the music and provides the rhythm, melody, and blues riffs that drive the music. It’s one of the few instruments that is just as nimble at providing rhythm as it is for soulful solos. Legendary guitarists such as Robert Johnson are immortalized in the dusty juke joints of the blues for their extensive use of intricate fingerpicking and twin-pronged slide guitar work to effectively convey to listeners the emotions of a tune. ‘Cross Road Blues’ and ‘Sweet Home Chicago’, among many others of Johnson’s songs, paint a dark picture of a man seemingly corrupted by the wicked spirits of satan that inhabit his blues-ridden world.
There is the plaintive cry of the harmonica, often in beautiful and dissonant counterpoint with the wailing tones of the human voice. This solo instrument is as deceptively simple in its finely crafted aluminum construction as it is challenging to master, with original interpreters such as Sonny Boy Williamson II and Little Walter ushering in new schools of playing with techniques of bending notes and of amplification that developed the scoring of the instrument’s palette in blues bands.
Pianists give it a marbled feel: with its wide range and potential for complicated harmonies, the piano has more room for artful and elaborated patting. Big Bill Broonzy, better known as a guitarist, was a pioneer here, too, as the way he sometimes stuck bits of piano language into his last recordings especially reflects. He seems a first bridge between the legacy of piano blues and that of the electric guitar. But the ‘pure’ form endured with the likes of Otis Spann, whose Chicago blues was a string, no guitar, providing a salty underpinning to his bandmaster Muddy Waters.
In summary, Blues musicians – especially innovative instrumentalists (guitarists, harmonica players, and pianists) – are vital in crafting the signature sound. Heroes of the past, such as Robert Johnson and Big Bill Broonzy made their mark by leaving a musical legacy that is still influential and relevant today.
The Role of Women in Blues
Behind the rise of blues music, there have been legions of women who played vital roles [but are mostly] forgotten by history or overshadowed by their male counterparts.
Memphis Minnie was one of the first women to popularise guitar-playing and singing in the blues. Born Lizzie Douglas in 1897, she recorded more than 200 songs in a career spanning the 1920s through to the 1950s. Minnie was a groundbreaking guitarist, and many later musicians credited her with influencing their skills and approach to playing. Upon her death in 1973, the New York Times said that she ‘probably exerted more influence and inspiration on country blues than any other woman artist’. Several of her songs featured women’s themes of independence and resilience.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe was another important singer and guitar player. She has been called ‘the Godmother of Rock and Roll’ because of her inventive use of gospel, blues, and jazz. She brought special energy to her performances, inspiring future rockers with her innovative use of the electric guitar.
Thorpe joined a circle of colleagues, one that at that time was dominated mainly by men. And so did Memphis Minnie. Both women were gifted, and so creative. They overcame great odds. And they were both fierce. Memphis Minnie’s ‘Me and My Chauffeur Blues’ (1929) is a cross between a railway work and a love song. She displays her inventiveness with the genre again..
One of the first gospel records to make it to secular charts, ‘Strange Things Happening Every Day’ by Sister Rosetta Tharpe features her blend of gospel and blues. In performance, Tharpe has a flamboyant style. She played with the likes of Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington.
Both were an influence and inspiration for generations of musicians. They provided a model for future female blues musicians and helped to demolish stereotypes. Because they refused to be silenced and denied, they changed the direction of the music forever. Today, their contributions remain core to our understanding of the evolution of the blues.
In honor of their successes, we pay tribute to women’s contributions to the blues by acknowledging their musicianship and recognizing the power of difference and inclusion in the music.
The Producers and Promoters of the Blues
Blues needed producers and promoters to popularise its music. And its leading impresario was John Hammond, who discovered Billie Holiday and Robert Johnson, among others. Hammond’s work at Columbia Records was crucial.
Another important figure was Leonard Chess who, with his brother Philip, founded Chess Records in Chicago. Chess pursued blues artists, predominantly, signing a roster that included Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and many others, and releasing recordings that put Chicago on the map as a blues hub.
Sam Phillips contributed, too, and he almost single-handedly founded Sun Records in Memphis, where he discovered, and recorded pioneers such as B B King and Howlin’ Wolf, whose innovative techniques revolutionized blues recording.
Meanwhile, another prominent promoter was Don Robey (not to be confused with the Australian singer/songwriter Donovan), who founded Duke and Peacock Records in Houston, which signed artists such as Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland and Junior Parker, hoping to push blues into the mainstream.
One of the early pioneers was Ralph Peer, who made field recordings in the 1920s. Peer recorded the likes of Mamie Smith and Blind Lemon Jefferson, both blues artists. The recordings helped create an interchange between rural blues and urban markets.
Without Bob Koester, there might not have been any blues history If there was any one person who kept blues history alive, it would have to be Bob Koester. In addition to founding Delmark Records in Chicago, a label dedicated to traditional and contemporary blues, he ran Jazz Record Mart, a crucially important meeting place for klepto-blues fans.
Without their contributions – plucking, recording, and promoting – there would hardly even be anything to call the ‘American’ side of the equation of the blues These producers and promoters are another key to our puzzle. They helped to discover, record, and bring blues men and women out of the Delta swamps and honkytonk dives and make the sound part of the industry. Their work lives on, too
The Impact of Blues on Other Genres
Blues has been one of the most important influences on many forms of US music, including jazz, rock, and R‘n’B.
Blues had far-reaching and specific influences on jazz, creating an expressive musical language with improvisational techniques. In the move from folk to urban source material, the structure of the 12-bar blues progression – generally made a permanent home in jazz. Greats such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington incorporated the blues vocabulary, which deepened the underlying emotional content of jazz.
Born in the 1950s, rock music developed out of the blues – the latter’s uncensored emotionality and its characteristic licks became the backbone of rock. Chuck Berry, who started the rock phenomenon in the US, borrowed heavily from it. So did Elvis Presley, and then the British Invasion spread blues-infected innovations worldwide, with bands such as the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin as contemporaries.
Rhythm and Blues – so called because it descends directly from blues, with its rhythms and vocal styles shaping the new genre – influenced both the sound and the artistic spirit of R&B, music that bridged the gap between blues, gospel, and jazz. Soul, later funk and later still hip-hop took many themes, and techniques from this R&B.
Crossover artists such as Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf were also important. Waters was the first blues artist to fully electrify the sound, helping to spawn rock and R B in the process. His Chicago blues style influenced everyone from rock bands to rock and roll stars, and even an English blues band that called themselves The Rolling Stones. Howlin’ Wolf’s massive vocals and storming stage presence paved the way for generations of rock performers, and his music was covered by many rock bands as different as The Doors, Led Zeppelin, and Grand Funk Railroad.
blues – as a style, as an emotional expression, as a collection of musical forms, as a set of urban stories, and above all blues as a musical tradition full of innovative insights and extraordinary originality – was at the root of jazz and rock ’n’ R&B. The origins of American popular music lie in the South and in the blues. They bear the mark of the African American experience. The blues defined so many of our most important native musical forms, as well as the soul of our most famous export. And those forms continue to be influenced by the blues to this day. Blues is still with us.
Modern Unsung Heros of the Blues
Today, as modern-day unsung heroes of the blues, keepers of the flame distill the classic into cathartically contemporary songs. They are vastly influential but largely uncelebrated.
The fire in his slide guitar and the soulfulness of his voice stand out. His music, which echoes Delta blues with a modern twist, is the hallmark of his social consciousness that guides him on stage. check out Selwyn Birchwood with the band.
Among many other talented artists is Samantha Fish, who powers an edge of rock to her soulful, high-energy blues, and whose strong guitar playing and air-punching shows attest to her influential work. Her fan base also shows her to be a road warrior.
Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram was a young blues prodigy who seemed to be giving the art form new life with his prodigious guitar chops. Within his hyperactive two-handed virtuosic maelstrom, one could hear the ghosts of the old masters, though he sounded instantly recognizable as himself. This is how the blues carries on. With a baton of incredible skill handed to the next generation. Ingram has risen to the top of the blues world, though he is still just starting in his twenties.
The young gunslinger Jontavious Willis shows his mastery and love for blues history as well, with some of the same contemporary touches that artists in the past brought to the blues tradition. Willis’s gravelly strong vocals and competent guitar technique make him a commanding presence.
And then there is this: Sugaray Rayford, a brawny powerhouse of a vocalist. Rayford’s music is pure, unadulterated greasy-chitlin-circuit soul-blues; it’d be boorish to steer it toward contemporary sounds. And yet his music is a testament to how well the blues has continued to resonate with Americana at large.
Tas Cru’s drawl comes out most when he’s talking about his storytelling songwriting and his combo of burning yet flexible guitar stylings – and he has the scuffs on his fingers to prove it. It shows in his artistic devotion to his gritty blues foundation and workmanlike passion to keep the blues current.
Albeit a small percentage, these artists are part of the movement changing the blues for the better. While not mainstream, they help to ensure the continuation of the tradition, and the movement of the blues forward. The purity and vibrancy of this tradition is both nurtured and inspired by contemporary blues artists who are charting a new course and keeping the spirit of the blues alive for future generations. The blues will be both transformed and renewed
The Global Influence of Blues
Blues music, which emerged in the United States in the late 19th century, is a genre deeply rooted in African American history and culture. It reached far beyond the US’s borders. Virtually every genre of popular music around the world has been influenced by blues music at some point.
Blues recorded in the early 20th century first appeared in Europe, and especially the UK, as collectors sought out and released historic recordings of music that had migrated with the Southern African diaspora. And in the Second World War, US soldiers took the blues to locations all over the globe. Blues’s raw, emotional power captured the imagination of listeners in Europe.
British bands in the 1960s were in the process of embracing the blues in new ways, by forming bands such as The Rolling Stones and The Yardbirds, which pioneered the genre of blues-rock (blending blues with rock and roll), resulting in some of the greatest rock guitarists of all time, including Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page.
Blues, meanwhile, also made inroads into jazz, which proliferated internationally, reaching audiences in Europe and Japan, as Jazz musicians began incorporating the blues scale and improvisatory techniques into their performances.
In the 1960s and ’70s, blues arrived in Africa, where musicians such as Ali Farka Touré, considered the father of ‘African blues’, fused it with traditional African music to great effect. African blues retains the texture of ancient music, but it also has a bluesy undertow.
Blues has also exerted an influence on rock, country, and even hip-hop. Artists such as Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin borrowed heavily from the blues. Country artists co-opted its storytelling style and lyrical themes. Hip-hop artists have sampled blues tracks and also tapped into their emotional depth.
Despite its foreign origins, modern blues truly took on a life of its own in Japan, where it enjoyed a dedicated following, with popular performers of American styles such as Shun Kikuta, as well as emerging Australian and Canadian scenes, typical of influences that spread from great centers of cultural exchange such as London. New York and Paris. Blues tradition also played a part in the 1960s cult of the ‘ primitivism’, and the development of a festival culture that helped to keep the history of the genre alive.
Blues music is universally recognized, traveling from the fields and juke joints to inspire generations across the world to transcend their problems and find solace through songs.
Conclusion
Too many unsung heroes of the blues are not given the accolades they deserve. These musicians created the foundation for the modern genres we currently enjoy. Had it not been for that first pluck on rhythmic chord progressions, many musical stylings such as rock, jazz, and soul would likely not have existed. With enough credit given to them, much more will be appreciated as we recognize the powerful and profound ties they have to the evolution of our human culture.
Not only do we learn more about music’s history when we welcome frank, urban, streetwise elements like blues into our ears, but when we listen to seldom-heard musicians we often hear at the same time in a fresh way with new ears. We can also help keep the blues going. So, if you or someone you know is into the genre, go hear live blues or folks of any kind, and break open your wallet for music when you find it in its purest form. Buy their CDs and help spread their stories and songs to others. You will help keep the people creating beauty alive. And wouldn’t that mean something,