Blues
Blues is a vocal-centered African American music built from blue notes, bent pitches, call-and-response phrasing, repeating stanzas, and groove patterns that range from rubato moans to strict 12-bar cycles. Depending on the branch, the sound may be a lone guitar and voice, a piano-based urban combo, or a full electric band with guitar, harmonica, bass, and drums.
History
Blues took shape in the post–Civil War South from work songs, hollers, spiritual language, dance rhythms, and vernacular storytelling, then entered the record industry in the 1920s through classic female blues and rural country-blues recordings. From there it split and spread: Delta and country strains fed Chicago and electric blues, blues shaped rhythm and blues and rock, and later revivals—from folk festivals to modern labels and awards—kept it circulating far beyond its original regional base.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Britannica on blues and its history
- Library of Congress on early blues and hollers
- Smithsonian on Chicago’s blues story.