The Blues is a form of music born out of the experiences of African Americans in our southern states in the early twentieth century. Vocal and instrumental traditions from Africa were blended with gospel, folk and work songs to give rise to a new style of music that expressed the deepest emotions of the performers. Early artists like Charley Patton, Robert Johnson, Son House and Bessie Smith developed a distinct musical form while composing lyrics that told of new love and lost love, poverty, travel and day-to-day life in a harshly segregated society.
Voice and guitar became the standard format and these musicians travelled the southern states playing in "juke joints," house parties and often on street corners. Many of these performers became regional stars on the so-called "race records" marketed specifically for the southern African American audience.
The mass migration to the north in the 1930's and '40's brought the Blues to Chicago, where it changed to reflect the hectic urban pace of the city. A new generation of Blues figures like Muddy Waters and B.B. King took advantage of the new electric instruments and brought this music to an ever-expanding audience, including a growing number of white listeners. Meanwhile artists like Billie Holiday and Count Basie mixed jazz and blues and created their own distinct sound.
In the early 1950's, a new breed of musicians picked up the Blues and "rocked" it, forever changing the sound of popular music. The ground-breaking hits of Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, and many others used the blues to tell a new story with a fresh beat.
The Blues lives on today and is enjoying a new wave of popularity. We can still listen to veteran performers like John Lee Hooker and Buddy Guy with their fifty-odd years of experience, while artists like Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt and Robert Cray carried the Blues into the twenty-first century. From its humble beginnings in the Mississippi Delta, the Blues has spread around the globe and represents an essential part of American culture.