UK Blues
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UK Blues is the broad national blues style of Britain after the 1950s, covering revival clubs, blues-rock bands, pub circuits, festivals, and modern guitar-led acts. It usually privileges musicianship, imported American repertoire, electric guitar tone, club performance, and a slightly cooler vocal delivery than Southern American blues, though modern UK players often fold in soul, rock, folk, and contemporary blues polish.
History
UK Blues began with skiffle, jazz clubs, and collectors, then became a national youth movement through the Rolling Stones, Yardbirds, John Mayall, Fleetwood Mac, Savoy Brown, and Cream. After the boom, the style survived in pub blues, regional festivals, and specialists such as The Blues Band, Nine Below Zero, Dr. Feelgood, and later Ian Siegal, Matt Schofield, Joanne Shaw Taylor, and King King. Its history matters because the UK helped globalize blues as rock language while also maintaining a separate club-based blues culture independent of American regional scenes.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Roberta Freund Schwartz, How Britain Got the Blues
- Bob Brunning, Blues: The British Connection
- AllMusic
- The British Blues Archive