A History of “The Blues”
General Music
Grade 6
Michael Perkins
The Roots of the Blues
Faint echoes of the
Blues can be traced to
West Africa between the
16th century and the
American Civil War
(1861-5).
In West Africa there was
a long tradition of solo
musicians, known as
griots, whose position
was honored in society.
The Transition
3 reasons we don’t
hear African music
in “the blues”.
1. Africa had many
different sources
of tribal music
across the continent.
2. Many aspects of
African culture
were destroyed at
the onset of slavery.
3. Many generations
passed between
slavery and the 1st
recording industry.
Blues
Slave music was first hymns & work songs.
 Gradually it became reworked into an original
form of expression.
 Out of anguish, honesty, talent and self
expression “the blues” arrived.
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http://www.pbs.org/theblues/songsartists/songsartists.html
What’s In a Name
After the Civil War, the music became
recognizable, although it still wasn’t called
the “the blues”.
 For many centuries the color blue was
associated with the term melancholy.
 But it wasn’t until the beginning of the
twentieth century that “the blues” got its
name.
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues

“Father of the Blues”

W.C. Handy, singer,
songwriter,
bandleader, publisher,
and instrumentalist,
was one of the first to
have “blue” notes in a
composition that was
published. “Blue”
notes are flattened
3rds and 7ths.
“Mother of the Blues”
Ma Rainey, one of the
first female stars, was
born into a show
business family in
Georgia. She toured
with the Rabbit Foot
Minstrels and formed
her own band called
the Georgia Jazz
Band.
“Empress of the Blues”
Bessie Smith was
born in Tennessee in
1894 and orphaned at
eight years of age.
 At 18, she worked
with Ma Rainey.
 In 1923, her
“Downhearted Blues”
sold 750,000 copies.

Historian of the Blues
Alan Lomax
 Born in 1915, Alan Lomax began collecting folk music for the Library of
Congress with his father at the age of 18. He continued his whole life in the
pursuit of recording traditional cultures, believing that all cultures should be
recorded and presented to the public. His life's work, represented by
seventy years' worth of documentation, will now be housed under one roof
at the Library, a place for which the Lomax family has always had strong
connections and great affection.

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Lomax at Mississippi
Festival in 1979
Lomax with Texas
Gladden -- Virginia,
1959
Lomax in Granada
Spain, 1952
Lomax with Virginia
banjo player Wade
Ward, 1959
Lomax in Aragon,
Spain, December
1952
Sonny Terry, Woody
Guthrie, Lilly Mae
Ledford, Alan Lomax,
New York, 1944.
Lomax in the
Caribbean in 1962
Blind Lemon Jefferson
He was born in Texas
in 1897. Blind at birth,
he spent his time
learning to play the
guitar.
 In 1925 his
perseverance paid off
when he cut his 1st
record in Chicago.

“The Blues” Travels North
Between 1910 and 1930, nearly 2,000,000
African Americans left the south to head
north.
 It was the biggest migration in American
History.

The Chicago Blues
The migration of bluesmen to Chicago
resulted in a style of blues known as the
“Chicago Blues”.
 The country blues of the Mississippi Delta
region was being transformed.
 Muddy Waters plugged in an electric
guitar
 Numerous Chicago blues musicians
formed an upbeat driving blues sound.

Life in Chicago

http://www.chipublib.org/001hwlc/vpablue
s/catfish.wav
"Front Room at Ida B. Wells Housing Projects in Chicago"
Russell Lee 1941
Blues Styles
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California Blues
Chicago Blues
Classic Blues Singers
Country Blues
Delta Blues
Louisiana Blues
Memphis Blues
Origins of Rock & Roll
Piedmont Blues
Rhythm & Blues
St. Louis Blues
Texas Blues
Urban Blues
Zydeco
http://physics.lunet.edu/blues/blues.html
That’s All Folks