The Blues

U.S. History

Quotes on the Blues

• “If you don’t know the blues, there’s no point in picking up the guitar and playing rock and roll or any other form of popular music.” – Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones

• “Blues means what milk does to a baby. Blues is what the spirit is to the minister. We sing the blues because our hearts have been hurt, our souls have been disturbed”– Alberta Hunter

• “Every bad situation is a blues song waiting to happen”– Amy Winehouse

Amy Winehouse and the Rolling Stones

What is “The Blues” ?

• Generally speaking, blues refers to a genre (type) of American music

• In considered to be folk music, along with country, bluegrass, gospel, and jazz.

• Predominantly African American• Guitar is the central instrument, piano and

harmonica are also important• Lyrics deal with struggle, spirituality, death, “hard

living”• Blues has influenced many other genres of music,

including jazz, rock and roll, and rhythm and blues (R&B)

Guitars

Origins of the Blues

• The Blues originated in the Deep South towards the end of the 1800’s.

• However, music that influenced the Blues started long before

• West African (drums and rhythm)• Slave Work Songs (timed with work)• Negro Spirituals (call and response)• European Folk Music (use of guitar)

Origins of the Blues

The Mississippi Delta• The Mississippi Delta

refers to the Northwestern part of Mississippi.

• “The Most Southern Place on Earth”

• Mississippi and Yazoo rivers; flooding

• Major cotton producing region

• Slavery before the Civil War; sharecropping after.

• High poverty, then and now.

Delta Blues

• One of the most well-known styles of the Blues.

• Heavily rhythmic• Use of a bottleneck

slide• Lyrics about the

hard life in the Delta.

The Delta Today

Robert Johnson

• Hazelhurst, Miss• Widely considered to

be the greatest bluesman

• Sold his soul to the devil!

• Died at age 27 (poisoned)

• “Crossroads Blues”• “Sweet Home

Chicago”

Eddie “Son” House

• Clarksdale, Miss• MARCH 21st, 1902!!!• Originally a preacher/

pastor• Imprisoned from 1928-29

for killing a man (allegedly in self defense)

• “Re-discovered” in the 1960’s and began playing again until his death.

• “Death Letter Blues”

Skip James

• Bentonia, Miss• Known for his dark,

sad, minor sound• Worked as a

sharecropper and laborer

• Rediscovered around the same time as Son House.

• “Hard Time Killing Floor Blues”

Blind Willie Johnson

• Brenham, Texas• Learned how to play

on a cigar box guitar• More religious than

most bluesmen.• Remained a preacher

until his death.• “Dark Was the Night,

Cold Was the Ground”