Blues Country
tagStarted 1950sPeak 1968–1978Last big hit still active
Blues Country is country music with overt blues vocabulary: bent notes, dominant-chord guitar lines, thick backbeat, and vocal phrasing that drags against the bar line. It is more electrified and band-oriented than Country Blues, and often more rhythmically muscular.
History
The style grew as country artists absorbed electric blues and as southern studio culture encouraged hybrid sessions. Jerry Reed, Tony Joe White, Delbert McClinton, Waylon Jennings at his grittiest, and later Chris Stapleton all kept the blues streak alive inside country without turning fully into rock or soul.
Defining artists
Essential listening
- Amos Moses — Jerry ReedSpotifyYouTube
- Polk Salad Annie — Tony Joe WhiteSpotifyYouTube
- Giving It Up for Your Love — Delbert McClintonSpotifyYouTube
- Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way — Waylon JenningsSpotifyYouTube
- T-R-O-U-B-L-E — Travis TrittSpotifyYouTube
- Tennessee Whiskey — Chris StapletonSpotifyYouTube
Sources
- Muscle Shoals and country-soul context
- Donnie Fritts and related hybrid traditions