View source for Blues

{{short description|Musical form and music genre}}
{{About|the music genre}}
{{redirect-multi|2|Blues man|bluesman|other uses|Bluesmen (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Infobox music genre
| name              = Blues
| image             = Mississippi Fred McDowell 1960.jpg
| caption           = American blues musician [[Mississippi Fred McDowell]] in 1960
| stylistic_origins = *[[Plantation-era songs|Work songs]]
* [[spirituals]]
* [[folk music]]<ref name="bbc.co.uk">{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/music/popular_music/blues2.shtml|title=BBC – GCSE Bitesize: Origins of the blues |publisher=BBC |access-date=September 15, 2015}}</ref>
| cultural_origins  = 1860s,<ref name=:0>{{cite web |title=The Historical Roots of Blues Music |date=May 9, 2018 |publisher=African American Intellectual History Society |access-date=September 29, 2020 |url=https://www.aaihs.org/the-historical-roots-of-blues-music/}}</ref> [[Deep South]], U.S.
| derivatives       = *[[Bluegrass music|Bluegrass]]
* [[country music|country]]
* [[jazz]]
* [[jug band]]
* [[ragtime]]
* [[rhythm and blues]]
* [[rock and roll]]
| subgenres         = {{Hidden
| header = Subgenres
| content =
* [[Boogie-woogie]]
* [[classic female blues]]
* [[country blues]]
* [[Delta blues]]
* [[dirty blues]]
* [[electric blues]]
* [[Hokum|hokum blues]]
* [[jump blues]]
 }}
| fusiongenres      = {{Hidden
 | header = Fusion genres
 | content =
* [[Biker metal]]
* [[blues rock]]
* [[desert blues]]
* [[gospel blues]]
* [[punk blues]]
* [[soul blues]]
 }}
| regional_scenes   = {{Hidden
 | header = Regional scenes
 | content =
* [[British blues]]
* [[Canadian blues]]
* [[Chicago blues]]
* [[Delta blues]]
* [[Detroit blues]]
* [[Hill country blues]]
* [[Kansas City blues (music)|Kansas City blues]]
* [[Louisiana blues]]
* [[Memphis blues]]
* [[New Orleans blues]]
* [[Piedmont blues]]
* [[St. Louis blues (music)|St. Louis blues]]
* [[Swamp blues]]
* [[Texas blues]]
* [[West Coast blues]]
 }}
| other_topics      = *[[List of blues genres|List of genres]]
* [[List of blues musicians|list of musicians]]
* [[Lists of blues musicians by genre|lists of musicians by genre]]
* [[list of blues standards|list of standards]]
* [[Origins of the blues|origins]]
* [[African-American music]]
}}
{{African American topics sidebar}}

'''Blues''' is a [[music genre]]<ref>Kunzler's dictionary of jazz provides two separate entries: "blues", and the "blues form", a widespread musical form (p. 131). Kunzler, Martin (1988). ''Jazz-Lexicon''. Hamburg: Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag</ref> and [[musical form]] that originated among African Americans in the [[Deep South]] of the United States around the 1860s.<ref name=":0" />  Blues has incorporated [[spiritual (music)|spirituals]], [[work song]]s, [[field holler]]s, [[Ring shout|shouts]], [[chant]]s, and rhymed simple narrative [[ballad (music)|ballads]] from the [[African-American culture]]. The blues form is ubiquitous in [[jazz]], [[rhythm and blues]], and [[rock and roll]], and is characterized by the [[Call and response (music)|call-and-response]] pattern, the [[blues scale]], and specific [[chord progression]]s, of which the [[twelve-bar blues]] is the most common. [[Blue note]]s (or "worried notes"), usually thirds, fifths or sevenths flattened in [[Pitch (music)|pitch]], are also an essential part of the sound. Blues [[shuffle note|shuffles]] or [[walking bass]] reinforce the trance-like rhythm and form a repetitive effect known as the [[groove (popular music)|groove]].

Blues music is characterized by its [[lyrics]], [[Bassline|bass lines]], and [[Instrumentation (music)|instrumentation]]. Early [[traditional blues verse]]s consisted of a single line repeated four times. It was only in the first decades of the 20th century that the most common current structure became standard: the [[Bar form|AAB pattern]], consisting of a line sung over the four first bars, its repetition over the next four, and then a longer concluding line over the last bars. Early blues frequently took the form of a loose narrative, often relating the [[racial discrimination]] and other challenges experienced by African Americans.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Honoring Jazz: An Early American Art Form |url=https://www.civilrightsmuseum.org/from-the-vault/posts/honoring-jazz |access-date=2022-11-07 |website=National Civil Rights Museum |language=en-us |archive-date=February 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205110639/https://www.civilrightsmuseum.org/from-the-vault/posts/honoring-jazz |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Many elements, such as the [[Call and response (music)|call-and-response]] format and the use of blue notes, can be traced back to the [[music of Africa]]. The origins of the blues are also closely related to the religious music of the African-American community, the [[spiritual (music)|spirituals]]. The first appearance of the blues is often dated to after the [[Abolitionism in the United States|ending of slavery]], with the development of [[juke joint]]s occurring later. It is associated with the newly acquired freedom of the former slaves. Chroniclers began to report about blues music at the dawn of the 20th century. The first publication of blues sheet music was in 1908. Blues has since evolved from unaccompanied vocal music and oral traditions of slaves into a wide variety of styles and subgenres. Blues [[List of blues genres|subgenres]] include [[country blues]], [[Delta blues]] and [[Piedmont blues]], as well as urban blues styles such as [[Chicago blues]] and [[West Coast blues]]. [[World War II]] marked the transition from acoustic to [[electric blues]] and the progressive opening of blues music to a wider audience, especially white listeners. In the 1960s and 1970s, a hybrid form called [[blues rock]] developed, which blended blues styles with [[rock music]].

==Etymology==
The term 'Blues' may have originated from "blue devils", meaning melancholy and sadness. An early use of the term in this sense is in [[George Colman the Younger|George Colman]]'s one-act farce ''Blue Devils'' (1798).<ref>The "Trésor de la Langue Française informatisé" provides this etymology of ''blues'' and cites Colman's farce as the first appearance of the term in the English language; see {{cite web |url=http://atilf.atilf.fr/dendien/scripts/fast.exe?mot=blues |title=Blues |publisher=Centre Nationale de Ressources Textuelles et Lixicales |access-date=October 15, 2010 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120628163715/http://atilf.atilf.fr/dendien/scripts/fast.exe?mot=blues |archive-date=June 28, 2012 |url-status=dead |language=fr  }}</ref> The phrase 'blue devils' may also have been derived from a British usage of the 1600s referring to the "intense visual hallucinations that can accompany severe alcohol withdrawal".<ref name=huff>[http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/2399330 Devi, Debra (2013). "Why Is the Blues Called the 'Blues'?" ''Huffington Post'', 4 January 2013]. Retrieved November 15, 2015</ref> As time went on, the phrase lost the reference to devils and came to mean a state of agitation or depression. By the 1800s in the United States, the term "blues" was associated with drinking alcohol, a meaning which survives in the phrase '[[blue law]]', which prohibits the sale of alcohol on Sunday.<ref name=huff/>

In 1827, it was in the sense of a sad state of mind that [[John James Audubon]] wrote to [[Lucy Bakewell Audubon|his wife]] that he "had the blues".<ref>{{cite book|publisher=Random House|year=2006|first=Richard|last=Rhodes|title=John James Audubon: The Making of an American|page=302|isbn=9780375713934|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4j2FDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22+John+James+Audubon+%22+%22had+the+blues%22&pg=PA302}}</ref>

In [[Henry David Thoreau]]'s book ''[[Walden]]'', he mentions "the blues" in the chapter reflecting on his time in solitude. He wrote his account of his personal quest in 1845, although it was not published until 1854.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcmassbookdig.waldenorlifeinwo00thor/?sp=5&st=pdf|title=Image 5 of Walden, or, Life in the woods|website=Loc.gov}}</ref>

The phrase "the blues" was written by [[Charlotte Forten Grimké|Charlotte Forten]], then aged 25, in her diary on December 14, 1862. She was a free-born black woman from Pennsylvania who was working as a schoolteacher in South Carolina, instructing both slaves and freedmen, and wrote that she "came home with the blues" because she felt lonesome and pitied herself. She overcame her depression and later noted a number of songs, such as "Poor Rosy", that were popular among the slaves. Although she admitted being unable to describe the manner of singing she heard, Forten wrote that the songs "can't be sung without a full heart and a troubled spirit", conditions that have inspired countless blues songs.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Oliver |first=Paul |url=http://archive.org/details/isbn_9781555533540 |title=The story of the blues |date=1998 |publisher=Boston, Mass. : Northeastern University Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-1-55553-355-7}}</ref>

Though the use of the phrase in African-American music may be older, it has been attested to in print since 1912, when [[Hart Wand]]'s "[[Dallas Blues]]" became the first copyrighted blues composition.<ref>Davis, Francis (1995). ''The History of the Blues''. New York: Hyperion, {{ISBN|978-0786860524}}</ref><ref>Partridge, Eric (2002). ''A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English''. Routledge. {{ISBN|978-0-415-29189-7}}</ref> In lyrics, the phrase is often used to describe a depressed mood.<ref>Bolden, Tony (2004). ''Afro-Blue: Improvisations in African American Poetry and Culture''. [[University of Illinois Press]]. {{ISBN|978-0-252-02874-8}}</ref>

==Lyrics==
[[File:MaRainey.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|American blues singer [[Ma Rainey]] (1886–1939), the "Mother of the Blues"]]
Early [[traditional blues verse]]s often consisted of a single line repeated four times. However, the most common structure of blues lyrics today was established in the first few decades of the 20th century, known as the "AAB" pattern. This structure consists of a line sung over the first four bars, its repetition over the next four, and a longer concluding line over the last bars.<ref>Ferris, p. 230</ref> This pattern can be heard in some of the first published blues songs, such as "[[Dallas Blues]]" (1912) and "[[Saint Louis Blues (song)|Saint Louis Blues]]" (1914). According to [[W.C. Handy]], the "AAB" pattern was adopted to avoid the monotony of lines repeated three times.<ref>Handy, W.C. ''Father of the Blues: An Autobiography''. Ed. Arna Bontemps. New York: Macmillan, 1941. p. 143</ref> The lyrics are often sung in a rhythmic talk style rather than a melody, resembling a form of [[talking blues]].

Early blues frequently took the form of a loose narrative. African-American singers voiced their "personal woes in a world of harsh reality: a lost love, the cruelty of police officers, oppression at the hands of white folk, [and] hard times".<ref>Ewen, pp. 142–143</ref> This melancholy has led to the suggestion of an [[Igbo music|Igbo]] origin for blues, because of the reputation the [[Igbo American|Igbo]] had throughout plantations in the Americas for their melancholic music and outlook on life when they were enslaved.<ref>{{cite book|title=They All Played Ragtime: The True Story of an American Music|first1=Rudi|last1=Blesh|first2=Harriet Grossman|last2=Janis|publisher=Sidgwick & Jackson|page=186|year=1958|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=awHY-w8_iTsC&pg=PA186|isbn=978-1-4437-3152-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Ethnicity|first1=James G. Jr.|last1=Thomas|page=166|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0-8078-5823-3}}</ref> Other historians have argued that there is little evidence of Sub-Sahelian influence in the blues as "elaborate polyrhythm, percussion on African drums (as opposed to European drums), [and] collective participation" which are characteristic of West-Central African music below the savannah, are conspicuously absent. According to the historian [[Paul Oliver]], "the roots of the blues were not to be found in the coastal and forest regions of Africa. Rather... the blues was rooted in ... the savanna hinterland, from Senegambia through Mali, Burkina Faso, Northern Ghana, Niger, and northern Nigeria". Additionally, ethnomusicologist [[John Storm Roberts]] has argued that "The parallels between African savanna-belt string-playing  and the techniques of many blues guitarists are remarkable. The big kora of Senegal and Guinea are played in a rhythmic-melodic style that uses constantly changing rhythms, often providing a ground bass overlaid with complex treble patterns, while vocal supplies a third rhythmic layer. Similar techniques can be found in hundreds of blues records".<ref>[https://renovatio.zaytuna.edu/article/what-islam-gave-the-blues Sylviane A. Diouf, "What Islam Gave the Blues", ''Renovatio'', June 17, 2019]. Retrieved August 17, 2023</ref>

The lyrics often relate troubles experienced within African American society. For instance [[Blind Lemon Jefferson]]'s "Rising High Water Blues" (1927) tells of the [[Great Mississippi Flood of 1927]]:
{{poemquote|Backwater rising, Southern peoples can't make no time
I said, backwater rising, Southern peoples can't make no time
And I can't get no hearing from that Memphis girl of mine}}

Although the blues gained an association with misery and oppression, the lyrics could also be humorous and raunchy:<ref>Komara, p. 476</ref>
{{poemquote|Rebecca, Rebecca, get your big legs off of me,
Rebecca, Rebecca, get your big legs off of me,
It may be sending you baby, but it's worrying the hell out of me.<ref>From [[Big Joe Turner]]'s "Rebecca", a compilation of [[traditional blues lyrics]]</ref>}}

[[Hokum]] blues celebrated both comedic lyrical content and a boisterous, [[farcical]] performance style.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Cambridge Companion to Blues and Gospel Music|url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani00alla|url-access=registration|author=Moore, Allan F.|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0-521-00107-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani00alla/page/32 32]}}</ref> [[Tampa Red]] and [[Thomas A. Dorsey|Georgia Tom]]'s "[[It's Tight Like That]]" (1928)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wirz.de/music/tampared/grafik/v1216a4.jpg|format=JPG|title=Photographic image of record label|website=Wirz.de|access-date=February 24, 2022}}</ref> is a sly wordplay with the double meaning of being "[[miser|tight]]" with someone, coupled with a more salacious physical familiarity. Blues songs with sexually explicit lyrics were known as [[dirty blues]]. The lyrical content became slightly simpler in postwar blues, which tended to focus on relationship woes or sexual worries. Lyrical themes that frequently appeared in prewar blues, such as economic depression, farming, devils, gambling, magic, floods and drought, were less common in postwar blues.<ref>Oliver, p. 281</ref>

The writer Ed Morales claimed that [[Yoruba mythology]] played a part in early blues, citing [[Robert Johnson]]'s "[[Cross Road Blues]]" as a "thinly veiled reference to [[Eleggua]], the [[orisha]] in charge of the crossroads".<ref name="cgkmik">Morales, p. 277</ref> However, the Christian influence was far more obvious.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> The repertoires of many seminal blues artists, such as [[Charley Patton]] and [[Skip James]], included religious songs or spirituals.<ref>{{cite AV media notes|title=Ten Years of Black Country Religion 1926–1936 |last1=Calt |first1=Stephen |last2=Perls |first2=Nick |last3=Stewart |first3=Michael |publisher=[[Yazoo Records]] |id=L-1022 |location=New York |type=LP back cover notes |url=http://www.wirz.de/music/yazoo/grafik/1022b4.jpg |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081002063218/http://www.wirz.de/music/yazoo/grafik/1022b4.jpg |archive-date=October 2, 2008 |url-status=live  }}</ref> [[Reverend Gary Davis]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://culturalequity.org/alanlomax/ce_alanlomax_profile_reverend_gary_davis.jsp |title=Reverend Gary Davis |year=2009 |access-date=February 3, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212215749/http://culturalequity.org/alanlomax/ce_alanlomax_profile_reverend_gary_davis.jsp |archive-date=February 12, 2009 }}</ref> and [[Blind Willie Johnson]]<ref>{{cite news|title=The Soul of Blind Willie Johnson |url=http://www.austin360.com/music/content/music/blindwilliejohnson_092803.html |newspaper=Austin American-Statesman |author=Corcoran, Michael |access-date=February 3, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051030022838/http://www.austin360.com/music/content/music/blindwilliejohnson_092803.html |archive-date=October 30, 2005 |url-status=live  }}</ref> are examples of artists often categorized as blues musicians for their music, although their lyrics clearly belong to spirituals.

==Form==
The blues form is a [[cyclic form|cyclic musical form]] in which a repeating [[chord progression|progression of chords]] mirrors the [[call and response (music)|call and response]] scheme commonly found in African and African-American music. During the first decades of the 20th century blues music was not clearly defined in terms of a particular chord progression.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Evolution of the 12-Bar Blues Progression|url=http://www.bobbrozman.com/tip_evol12bar.html|author=Brozman, Bob|author-link=Bob Brozman|year=2002|access-date=May 2, 2009|archive-date=May 25, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100525222458/http://www.bobbrozman.com/tip_evol12bar.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> With the popularity of early performers, such as [[Bessie Smith]], use of the [[twelve-bar blues]] spread across the music industry during the 1920s and 1930s.<ref>[[Samuel Charters|Charters, Samuel]]. In ''Nothing but the Blues''. p. 20</ref> Other chord progressions, such as [[8-bar blues|8-bar]] forms, are still considered blues; examples include "[[How Long, How Long Blues|How Long Blues]]", "[[Trouble in Mind (song)|Trouble in Mind]]", and [[Big Bill Broonzy]]'s "[[Key to the Highway]]". There are also [[16-bar blues]], such as [[Ray Charles]]'s instrumental "Sweet 16 Bars" and [[Herbie Hancock]]'s "[[Watermelon Man (composition)|Watermelon Man]]". Idiosyncratic numbers of bars are occasionally used, such as the 9-bar progression in "[[Sitting on Top of the World]]", by [[Walter Vinson]].

{|class="wikitable floatright"
|style="width:200px; text-align:center;"|Chords played over a 12-bar scheme:
|style="width:200px; text-align:center;"|Chords for a blues in C:
|-
|align=center|
{| class="wikitable"
|- style="text-align:center;"
|style="width:50px;"|I
|style="width:50px;"|I or IV
|style="width:50px;"|I
|style="width:50px;"|I7
|- style="text-align:center;"
|style="width:50px;"|IV
|style="width:50px;"|IV
|style="width:50px;"|I
|style="width:50px;"|I7
|- style="text-align:center;"
|style="width:50px;"|V
|style="width:50px;"|V or IV
|style="width:50px;"|I
|style="width:50px;"|I or V
|}
|align=center|
{|class="wikitable"
|- style="text-align:center;"
|style="width:50px;"|C
|style="width:50px;"|C
|style="width:50px;"|C
|style="width:50px;"|C7
|- style="text-align:center;"
|style="width:50px;"|F
|style="width:50px;"|F
|style="width:50px;"|C
|style="width:50px;"|C7
|- style="text-align:center;"
|style="width:50px;"|G
|style="width:50px;"|G
|style="width:50px;"|C
|style="width:50px;"|C
|}
|}

The basic 12-bar lyric framework of many blues compositions is reflected by a standard harmonic progression of 12 bars in a [[Time signature|4/4 time signature]]. The blues [[Chord (music)|chords]] associated to a [[twelve-bar blues]] are typically a set of three different chords played over a 12-bar scheme. They are labeled by [[Roman number]]s referring to the [[degree (music)|degrees]] of the progression. For instance, for a blues in the [[key (music)|key]] of C, C is the [[tonic chord]] (I) and F is the [[subdominant chord|subdominant]] (IV).

The last chord is the [[dominant chord|dominant]] (V) [[turnaround (music)|turnaround]], marking the transition to the beginning of the next progression. The lyrics generally end on the last beat of the tenth bar or the first beat of the 11th bar, and the final two bars are given to the instrumentalist as a break; the harmony of this two-bar break, the turnaround, can be extremely complex, sometimes consisting of single notes that defy analysis in terms of chords.

Much of the time, some or all of these chords are played in the [[harmonic seventh]] (7th) form. The use of the harmonic seventh interval is characteristic of blues and is popularly called the "blues seven".<ref>{{cite web|author=Fullman, Ellen|title=The Long String Instrument|work= MusicWorks| publisher= Issue 37, Fall 1987 |url=http://www.deepmedia.org/ellenfullman/mw85/fullman_article.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080625045305/http://www.deepmedia.org/ellenfullman/mw85/fullman_article.pdf |archive-date=June 25, 2008}}</ref> Blues seven chords add to the harmonic chord a note with a frequency in a 7:4 ratio to the fundamental note. At a 7:4 ratio, it is not close to any interval on the conventional Western [[diatonic scale]].<ref>{{cite web|title=A Jazz Improvisation Almanac, Outside Shore Music Online School|url=http://www.outsideshore.com/school/music/almanac/html/Music_Theory/Jazz_Scales/Blues_And_Bebop_Scales/Blues_Scale.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120911011306/http://www.outsideshore.com/school/music/almanac/html/Music_Theory/Jazz_Scales/Blues_And_Bebop_Scales/Blues_Scale.htm|archive-date=September 11, 2012}}</ref> For convenience or by necessity it is often approximated by a [[minor seventh]] interval or a [[dominant seventh chord]].

[[File:A minor pentatonic scale.svg|thumb|upright=1.6|A minor [[pentatonic scale]]; {{Audio|PentMinor.mid|play}}]]

In [[melody]], blues is distinguished by the use of the [[Flat (music)|flattened]] [[major third|third]], [[tritone|fifth]] and [[minor seventh|seventh]] of the associated [[major scale]].<ref>Ewen, p. 143</ref>

Blues [[shuffle note|shuffles]] or [[walking bass]] reinforce the trance-like rhythm and call-and-response, and they form a repetitive effect called a [[groove (popular music)|groove]]. Characteristic of the blues since its Afro-American origins, the shuffles played a central role in [[swing music]].<ref>Kunzler, p. 1065</ref> The simplest shuffles, which were the clearest signature of the [[Rhythm and blues|R&B]] wave that started in the mid-1940s,<ref>Pearson, Barry. In ''Nothing but the Blues''. p. 316</ref> were a three-note [[riff]] on the bass strings of the guitar. When this riff was played over the bass and the drums, the [[Groove (music)|groove]] "feel" was created. Shuffle rhythm is often vocalized as "''dow'', da ''dow'', da ''dow'', da" or "''dump'', da ''dump'', da ''dump'', da":<ref>Hamburger, David (2001). ''Acoustic Guitar Slide Basics''. {{ISBN|978-1-890490-38-6}}</ref> it consists of uneven, or "swung", eighth notes. On a guitar this may be played as a simple steady bass or it may add to that stepwise quarter note motion from the fifth to the sixth of the chord and back.

==History==
===Origin===
{{Main|Origins of the blues}}
[[Hart Wand]]'s "[[Dallas Blues]]" was published in 1912; [[W.C. Handy]]'s "[[The Memphis Blues]]" followed in the same year. The first recording by an African-American singer was [[Mamie Smith]]'s 1920 rendition of [[Perry Bradford]]'s "[[Crazy Blues]]". But the origins of the blues were some decades earlier, probably around 1890.<ref>Evans, David. In ''Nothing but the Blues''. p. 33</ref> This music is poorly documented, partly because of racial discrimination in U.S. society, including academic circles,<ref name="Kunzler, pg. 130">Kunzler, p. 130</ref> and partly because of the low rate of literacy among rural African Americans at the time.<ref>Bastin, Bruce. In ''Nothing but the Blues''. p. 206</ref>

Reports of blues music in [[southern Texas]] and the [[Deep South]] were written at the dawn of the 20th century. Charles Peabody mentioned the appearance of blues music at [[Clarksdale, Mississippi]], and Gate Thomas reported similar songs in southern Texas around 1901–1902. These observations coincide more or less with the recollections of [[Jelly Roll Morton]], who said he first heard blues music in [[New Orleans]] in 1902; [[Ma Rainey]], who remembered first hearing the blues in the same year in [[Missouri]]; and [[W.C. Handy]], who first heard the blues in [[Tutwiler, Mississippi]], in 1903. The first extensive research in the field was performed by [[Howard W. Odum]], who published an [[anthology]] of folk songs from [[Lafayette County, Mississippi]], and [[Newton County, Georgia]], between 1905 and 1908.<ref>Evans, David. In ''Nothing but the Blues''. pp. 33–35</ref> The first non-commercial recordings of blues music, termed ''proto-blues'' by [[Paul Oliver]], were made by Odum for research purposes at the beginning of the 20th century. They are now lost.<ref>Cowley, John H. In ''Nothing but the Blues''. p. 265</ref>

[[File:John-avery-lomax1 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Musicologist [[John Lomax]] (left) shaking hands with musician [[Rich Brown (blues musician)|"Uncle" Rich Brown]] in [[Sumterville, Alabama]] ]]

Other recordings that are still available were made in 1924 by [[Lawrence Gellert]]. Later, several recordings were made by [[Robert Winslow Gordon|Robert W. Gordon]], who became head of the [[Archive of Folk Culture|Archive of American Folk Songs]] of the [[Library of Congress]]. Gordon's successor at the library was [[John Lomax]]. In the 1930s, Lomax and his son [[Alan Lomax|Alan]] made a large number of non-commercial blues recordings that testify to the huge variety of proto-blues styles, such as [[field holler]]s and [[ring shout]]s.<ref>Cowley, John H. In ''Nothing but the Blues''. pp. 268–269</ref> A record of blues music as it existed before 1920 can also be found in the recordings of artists such as [[Lead Belly]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.leadbelly.org/re-homepage.html|title=Lead Belly Foundation|access-date=September 26, 2008|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100123193411/http://www.leadbelly.org/re-homepage.html|archive-date=January 23, 2010}}</ref> and [[Henry Thomas (blues musician)|Henry Thomas]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fthxc|title=Henry Thomas|author=Oliphant, Dave|work=The Handbook of Texas Online|access-date=September 26, 2008}}</ref> All these sources show the existence of many different structures distinct from [[12 bar blues|twelve-]], [[eight-bar blues|eight-]], or [[16 bar blues|sixteen-bar]].<ref>Garofalo, pp. 46–47</ref><ref>Oliver, p. 3</ref>
The social and economic reasons for the appearance of the blues are not fully known.<ref>Bohlman, Philip V. (1999). "Immigrant, Folk, and Regional Music in the Twentieth Century". ''The Cambridge History of American Music''. David Nicholls, ed. [[Cambridge University Press]]. p. 285. {{ISBN|978-0-521-45429-2}}</ref> The first appearance of the blues is usually dated after the [[Emancipation Proclamation|Emancipation Act of 1863]],<ref name="Kunzler, pg. 130"/> between 1860s and 1890s,<ref name=:0/> a period that coincides with post-[[Abolitionism in the United States|emancipation]] and later, the establishment of [[juke joint]]s as places where African Americans went to listen to music, dance, or gamble after a hard day's work.<ref name=bluescommentary>{{cite book|last=Oliver|first=Paul|title=Blues Off the Record:Thirty Years of Blues Commentary|publisher=Da Capo Press|year=1984|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bluesoffrecordth00oliv/page/45 45–47]|isbn=978-0-306-80321-5|url=https://archive.org/details/bluesoffrecordth00oliv/page/45}}</ref> This period corresponds to the transition from slavery to sharecropping, small-scale agricultural production, and the expansion of railroads in the southern United States. Several scholars characterize the development of blues music in the early 1900s as a move from group performance to individualized performance. They argue that the development of the blues is associated with the newly acquired freedom of the enslaved people.<ref name="Lawrence W. Levine 1977, pg. 223">Levine, Lawrence W. (1977). ''Black Culture and Black Consciousness: Afro-American Folk Thought from Slavery to Freedom''. [[Oxford University Press]]. p. 223. {{ISBN|978-0-19-502374-9}}</ref>

According to Lawrence Levine, "there was a direct relationship between the national ideological emphasis upon the individual, the popularity of Booker T. Washington's teachings, and the rise of the blues." Levine stated that "psychologically, socially, and economically, African-Americans were being acculturated in a way that would have been impossible during slavery, and it is hardly surprising that their secular music reflected this as much as their religious music did."<ref name="Lawrence W. Levine 1977, pg. 223"/>

There are few characteristics common to all blues music, because the genre took its shape from the idiosyncrasies of individual performers.<ref>Southern, p. 333</ref> However, there are some characteristics that were present long before the creation of the modern blues. Call-and-response shouts were an early form of blues-like music; they were a "functional expression ... style without accompaniment or harmony and unbounded by the formality of any particular musical structure".<ref>Garofalo, p. 44</ref> A form of this pre-blues was heard in slave [[ring shout]]s and [[field holler]]s, expanded into "simple solo songs laden with emotional content".<ref>Ferris, p. 229</ref>

Blues has evolved from the unaccompanied vocal music and oral traditions of slaves imported from West Africa and Black Americans in rural areas into a wide variety of styles and subgenres, with regional variations across the United States. Although blues (as it is now known) can be seen as a musical style based on both European [[harmony|harmonic structure]] and the African call-and-response tradition that transformed into an interplay of voice and guitar,<ref>Morales, p. 276. Morales attributed this claim to [[John Storm Roberts]] in ''Black Music of Two Worlds'', beginning his discussion with a quote from Roberts: "There does not seem to be the same African quality in blues forms as there clearly is in much Caribbean music."</ref><ref name="Call and Response in Blues">{{cite web|title=Call and Response in Blues|publisher=How to Play Blues Guitar|access-date=August 11, 2008|url=http://how-to-play-blues-guitar.com/blues-concepts/call-and-response/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010154112/http://how-to-play-blues-guitar.com/blues-concepts/call-and-response/|archive-date=October 10, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> the blues form itself bears no resemblance to the melodic styles of the West African [[griot]]s.<ref>[[Samuel Charters|Charters, Samuel]]. In ''Nothing but the Blues''. p. 25</ref><ref>Oliver, p. 4</ref>  Additionally, there are theories that the four-beats-per-measure structure of the blues might have its origins in the Native American tradition of [[pow wow]] drumming.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.americanindiannews.org/2009/09/music-exploring-native-american-influence-on-the-blues |title=MUSIC: Exploring Native American influence on the blues |date=Sep 17, 2009 |access-date=October 15, 2014 |archive-date=Dec 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171224000913/http://www.americanindiannews.org:80/2009/09/music-exploring-native-american-influence-on-the-blues/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Some scholars identify strong influences on the blues from the melodic structures of certain West African musical styles of the savanna and sahel. [[Lucy Durran]] finds similarities with the melodies of the [[Bambara people]], and to a lesser degree, the [[Soninke people]] and [[Wolof people]], but not as much of the [[Mandinka people]].<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.academia.edu/34636259 | title=POYI! Bamana jeli music, Mali and the blues | journal=Journal of African Cultural Studies | year=2013 | volume=25 | issue=2 | pages=211–246 | last1=Durán | first1=Lucy | doi=10.1080/13696815.2013.792725 | s2cid=191563534  | issn = 1369-6815}}</ref> [[Gerard Kubik]] finds similarities to the melodic styles of both the west African savanna and central Africa, both of which were sources of enslaved people.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://afropop.org/articles/africa-and-the-blues-an-interview-with-gerhard-kubik | title=Afropop Worldwide &#124; Africa and the Blues: An Interview with Gerhard Kubik|website=Afropop.org }}</ref>

No specific African musical form can be identified as the single direct ancestor of the blues.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Curious Listener's Guide to the Blues|author1=Vierwo, Barbara|author2=Trudeau, Andy|year=2005|publisher=Stone Press|isbn=978-0-399-53072-2|page=[https://archive.org/details/nprcuriouslisten00evan/page/15 15]|url=https://archive.org/details/nprcuriouslisten00evan/page/15}}</ref> However the call-and-response format can be traced back to the [[music of Africa]]. That blue notes predate their use in blues and have an African origin is attested to by "A Negro Love Song", by the English composer [[Samuel Coleridge-Taylor]], from his ''African Suite for Piano'', written in 1898, which contains [[minor third|blue third]] and [[seventh chord|seventh notes]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Scott, Derek B.|title=From the Erotic to the Demonic: On Critical Musicology.|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2003|page=182|quote=A blues idiom is hinted at in "A Negro Love-Song", a pentatonic melody with blue third and seventh in Coleridge-Taylor's ''African Suite'' of 1898, before the first blues publications.|author-mask=Scott}}</ref>

The [[Diddley bow]] (a homemade one-stringed instrument found in parts of the [[American South]] sometimes referred to as a ''jitterbug'' or a ''one-string'' in the early twentieth century) and the [[banjo]] are African-derived instruments that may have helped in the transfer of African performance techniques into the early blues instrumental vocabulary.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aliciapatterson.org/APF1902/Steber/Steber.html |title=African-American Music from the Mississippi Hill Country: "They Say Drums Was a-Calling" |publisher=APF Reporter |author=Steper, Bill |year=1999 |access-date=October 27, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080906141616/http://www.aliciapatterson.org/APF1902/Steber/Steber.html |archive-date=September 6, 2008 }}</ref> The banjo seems to be directly imported from West African music. It is similar to the musical instrument that griots and other Africans such as the [[Igbo people|Igbo]]<ref>{{cite book|title=Murder at Montpelier: Igbo Africans in Virginia|first=Douglas B.|last=Chambers|publisher=University Press of Mississippi|page=180|year=2009|isbn=978-1-60473-246-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vqpoxEl_0_4C&pg=PA180}}</ref> played (called [[Xalam|halam]] or [[akonting]] by African peoples such as the [[Wolof people|Wolof]], [[Fula people|Fula]] and [[Mandinka people|Mandinka]]).<ref>[[Samuel Charters|Charters, Samuel]]. In ''Nothing but the Blues''. pp. 14–15</ref> However, in the 1920s, when country blues began to be recorded, the use of the banjo in blues music was quite marginal and limited to individuals such as [[Papa Charlie Jackson]] and later [[Gus Cannon]].<ref>Charters, Samuel. In ''Nothing but the Blues''. p. 16</ref>

Blues music also adopted elements from the "Ethiopian airs", [[minstrel show]]s and [[Negro spiritual]]s, including instrumental and harmonic accompaniment.<ref>Garofalo, p. 44. "Gradually, instrumental and harmonic accompaniment were added, reflecting increasing cross-cultural contact." Garofalo cited other authors who also mention the "Ethiopian airs" and "Negro spirituals".</ref> The style also was closely related to [[ragtime]], which developed at about the same time, though the blues better preserved "the original melodic patterns of African music".<ref>Schuller, cited in Garofalo, p. 27</ref>

The musical forms and styles that are now considered the blues as well as modern [[country music]] arose in the same regions of the southern United States during the 19th century. Recorded blues and country music can be found as far back as the 1920s, when the record industry created the marketing categories "[[race music]]" and "[[hillbilly music]]" to sell music by blacks for blacks and by whites for whites, respectively. At the time, there was no clear musical division between "blues" and "country", except for the ethnicity of the performer, and even that was sometimes documented incorrectly by record companies.<ref>Garofalo, pp. 44–47: "As marketing categories, designations like race and [[hillbilly]] intentionally separated artists along racial lines and conveyed the impression that their music came from mutually exclusive sources. Nothing could have been further from the truth... In cultural terms, blues and country were more equal than they were separate." Garofalo claimed that "artists were sometimes listed in the wrong racial category in record company catalogues."</ref><ref>Wolfe, Charles. In ''Nothing but the Blues''. pp. 233–263</ref>

Though musicologists can now attempt to define the blues narrowly in terms of certain chord structures and lyric forms thought to have originated in West Africa, audiences originally heard the music in a far more general way: it was simply the music of the rural South, notably the [[Mississippi Delta]]. Black and white musicians shared the same repertoire and thought of themselves as "[[songsters]]" rather than blues musicians. The notion of blues as a separate genre arose during the [[Great Migration (African American)|black migration]] from the countryside to urban areas in the 1920s and the simultaneous development of the recording industry. ''Blues'' became a code word for a record designed to sell to black listeners.<ref>{{cite web|last=Golding|first=Barrett|title=The Rise of the Country Blues|publisher=NPR|url=http://www.honkytonks.org/showpages/countryblues.htm|access-date=December 27, 2008}}</ref>

The origins of the blues are closely related to the religious music of Afro-American community, the [[spiritual (music)|spirituals]]. The origins of spirituals go back much further than the blues, usually dating back to the middle of the 18th century, when the slaves were Christianized and began to sing and play Christian [[hymn]]s, in particular those of [[Isaac Watts]], which were very popular.<ref>Humphrey, Mark A. In ''Nothing but the Blues''. p. 110</ref> Before the blues gained its formal definition in terms of chord progressions, it was defined as the secular counterpart of spirituals. It was the low-down music played by rural blacks.<ref name="ReferenceA">Humphrey, Mark A. In ''Nothing but the Blues''. pp. 107–149</ref>

Depending on the religious community a musician belonged to, it was more or less considered a sin to play this low-down music: blues was the devil's music. Musicians were therefore segregated into two categories: gospel singers and blues singers, guitar preachers and songsters. However, when rural black music began to be recorded in the 1920s, both categories of musicians used similar techniques: call-and-response patterns, blue notes, and slide guitars. Gospel music was nevertheless using musical forms that were compatible with Christian hymns and therefore less marked by the blues form than its secular counterpart.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

===Pre-war blues===
The American [[sheet music]] publishing industry produced a great deal of [[ragtime]] music. By 1912, the sheet music industry had published three popular blues-like compositions, precipitating the [[Tin Pan Alley]] adoption of blues elements: "Baby Seals' Blues", by [[Baby Franklin Seals]] (arranged by [[Artie Matthews]]); "Dallas Blues", by [[Hart Wand]]; and "[[The Memphis Blues]]", by [[W.C. Handy]].<ref>Garofalo, p. 27. Garofalo cited Barlow in "Handy's sudden success demonstrated [the] commercial potential of [the blues], which in turn made the genre attractive to the Tin Pan Alley hacks, who wasted little time in turning out a deluge of imitations." (Parentheticals in Garofalo.)</ref>

[[File:W. C. Handy - The "St. Louis Blues" - First page.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|Sheet music from "[[Saint Louis Blues (song)|Saint Louis Blues]]" (1914)]]
Handy was a formally trained musician, composer, and arranger who helped to popularize the blues by transcribing and orchestrating blues in an almost symphonic style, with bands and singers. He became a popular and prolific composer, and billed himself as the "Father of the Blues"; however, his compositions can be described as a fusion of blues with ragtime and jazz, a merger facilitated using the Cuban [[habanera (music)|habanera]] rhythm that had long been a part of ragtime;<ref name="cgkmik"/><ref name="trkeja">Garofalo, p. 27</ref> Handy's signature work was the "[[Saint Louis Blues (song)|Saint Louis Blues]]".

In the 1920s, the blues became a major element of African-American and American popular music, also reaching white audiences via Handy's arrangements and the classic female blues performers.  These female performers became perhaps the first African-American "superstars", and their recording sales demonstrated "a huge appetite for records made by and for black people."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lynskey |first=Dorian |date=2021-02-16 |title=The forgotten story of America's first black superstars |language=en |url=https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20210216-the-forgotten-story-of-americas-first-black-superstars |website=Bbc.co.uk|access-date=2022-02-22}}</ref>  The blues evolved from informal performances in bars to entertainment in theaters. Blues performances were organized by the [[Theater Owners Booking Association]] in [[nightclub]]s such as the [[Cotton Club]] and [[juke joint]]s such as the bars along [[Beale Street]] in Memphis. Several record companies, such as the [[American Record Corporation]], [[Okeh Records]], and [[Paramount Records]], began to record African-American music.

As the recording industry grew, [[country blues]] performers like [[Bo Carter]], [[Jimmie Rodgers (country singer)|Jimmie Rodgers]], [[Blind Lemon Jefferson]], [[Lonnie Johnson (musician)|Lonnie Johnson]], [[Tampa Red]], and [[Blind Blake]] became more popular in the African-American community. Kentucky-born [[Sylvester Weaver (musician)|Sylvester Weaver]] was in 1923 the first to record the [[slide guitar]] style, in which a guitar is fretted with a knife blade or the sawed-off neck of a bottle.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://members.aye.net/~kbsblues/awards.htm#Weaver|title=Kentuckiana Blues Society|website=Members.aye.net|access-date=September 26, 2008}}</ref> The slide guitar became an important part of the [[Delta blues]].<ref name="bkihns">Clarke, p. 138</ref> The first blues recordings from the 1920s are categorized as a traditional, rural country blues and a more polished city or urban blues.

Country blues performers often improvised, either without accompaniment or with only a banjo or guitar. Regional styles of country blues varied widely in the early 20th century. The (Mississippi) Delta blues was a rootsy sparse style with passionate vocals accompanied by slide guitar. The little-recorded [[Robert Johnson (musician)|Robert Johnson]]<ref>Clarke, p. 141</ref> combined elements of urban and rural blues. In addition to Robert Johnson, influential performers of this style included his predecessors [[Charley Patton]] and [[Son House]]. Singers such as [[Blind Willie McTell]] and [[Blind Boy Fuller]] performed in the southeastern "delicate and lyrical" [[Piedmont blues]] tradition, which used an elaborate ragtime-based [[fingerpicking]] guitar technique. Georgia also had an early slide tradition,<ref>Clarke, p. 139</ref> with [[Curley Weaver]], [[Tampa Red]], [[Barbecue Bob|"Barbecue Bob" Hicks]] and [[Kokomo Arnold|James "Kokomo" Arnold]] as representatives of this style.<ref>{{cite AV media notes|title=The Georgia Blues 1927–1933|last1=Calt|first1=Stephen|last2=Perls|first2=Nick|last3=Stewart|first3=Michael|publisher=[[Yazoo Records]]|id=L-1012|location=New York|type=LP back cover notes|url=http://www.wirz.de/music/yazoo/grafik/1012b4.jpg}}</ref>

The lively [[Memphis blues]] style, which developed in the 1920s and 1930s near [[Memphis, Tennessee]], was influenced by [[jug band]]s such as the [[Memphis Jug Band]] or the [[Gus Cannon|Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers]]. Performers such as [[Frank Stokes (musician)|Frank Stokes]], [[Sleepy John Estes]], [[Robert Wilkins]], [[Kansas Joe McCoy]], [[Casey Bill Weldon]], and [[Memphis Minnie]] used a variety of unusual instruments such as [[washboard (musical instrument)|washboard]], [[Musical styles (violin)#Fiddle|fiddle]], [[kazoo]] or [[mandolin]]. Memphis Minnie was famous for her [[virtuoso]] guitar style. Pianist [[Memphis Slim]] began his career in Memphis, but his distinct style was smoother and had some swing elements. Many blues musicians based in Memphis moved to Chicago in the late 1930s or early 1940s and became part of the urban blues movement.<ref>{{cite AV media notes|title=10 Years In Memphis 1927–1937|last=Kent|first=Don|author-link=Don Kent (collector)|publisher=[[Yazoo Records]]|id=L-1002|year=1968|location=New York|type=vinyl back cover|url=http://www.wirz.de/music/yazoo/grafik/1002b4.jpg}}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media notes|title=Memphis Jamboree 1927–1936|last1=Calt|first1=Stephen|last2=Perls|first2=Nick|last3=Stewart|first3=Michael|publisher=[[Yazoo Records]]|id=L-1021|year=1970|location=New York|type=vinyl back cover
|url=http://www.wirz.de/music/yazoo/grafik/1021b4.jpg}}</ref>

[[File:Bessie Smith (1936) by Carl Van Vechten.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.8|[[Bessie Smith]], an early blues singer, known for her powerful voice]]

====Urban blues====
City or urban blues styles were more codified and elaborate, as a performer was no longer within their local, immediate community, and had to adapt to a larger, more varied audience's aesthetic.<ref name="qzdblv">Garofalo, p. 47</ref> [[classic female blues|Classic female urban]] and [[vaudeville]] blues singers were popular in the 1920s, among them "the big three"—[[Ma Rainey|Gertrude "Ma" Rainey]], [[Bessie Smith]], and [[Lucille Bogan]]. [[Mamie Smith]], more a vaudeville performer than a blues artist, was the first African American to record a blues song, in 1920; her second record, "Crazy Blues", sold 75,000 copies in its first month.<ref>{{cite web|author=Hawkeye Herman |title=Blues Foundation homepage |publisher=Blues Foundation |url=http://www.blues.org/blues/essays.php4?Id=3 |access-date=October 15, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081210013210/http://www.blues.org/blues/essays.php4?Id=3 |archive-date=December 10, 2008 }}</ref> Ma Rainey, the "Mother of Blues", and Bessie Smith each "[sang] around center tones, perhaps in order to project her voice more easily to the back of a room". Smith would "sing a song in an unusual key, and her artistry in bending and stretching notes with her beautiful, powerful contralto to accommodate her own interpretation was unsurpassed".<ref>Clarke, p. 137</ref>

In 1920, the vaudeville singer [[Lucille Hegamin]] became the second black woman to record blues when she recorded "The Jazz Me Blues",<ref>Stewart-Baxter, Derrick (1970). ''Ma Rainey and the Classic Blues Singers''. New York: Stein & Day. p. 16</ref> and [[Victoria Spivey]], sometimes called Queen Victoria or Za Zu Girl, had a recording career that began in 1926 and spanned forty years. These recordings were typically labeled "[[race records]]" to distinguish them from records sold to white audiences. Nonetheless, the recordings of some of the classic female blues singers were purchased by white buyers as well.<ref>Steinberg, Jesse R.; Fairweather, Abrol (eds.) (2011). ''Blues: Thinking Deep About Feeling Low''. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley. p. 159</ref> These blueswomen's contributions to the genre included "increased improvisation on melodic lines, unusual phrasing which altered the emphasis and impact of the lyrics, and vocal dramatics using shouts, groans, moans, and wails. The blues women thus effected changes in other types of popular singing that had spin-offs in jazz, [[Broadway musical]]s, [[torch song]]s of the 1930s and 1940s, [[gospel music|gospel]], [[rhythm and blues]], and eventually [[rock and roll]]."<ref>Harrison, Daphne Duval (1988). ''Black Pearls: Blues Queens of the '20s''. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. p. 8</ref>

Urban male performers included popular black musicians of the era, such as [[Tampa Red]], [[Big Bill Broonzy]] and [[Leroy Carr]]. An important label of this era was the Chicago-based [[Bluebird Records]]. Before World War II, Tampa Red was sometimes referred to as "the Guitar Wizard". Carr accompanied himself on the piano with [[Scrapper Blackwell]] on guitar, a format that continued well into the 1950s with artists such as [[Charles Brown (musician)|Charles Brown]] and even [[Nat "King" Cole]].<ref name="bkihns"/>

[[File:Boogie-woogie-bassline.svg|thumb|upright=0.9|A typical boogie-woogie bass line {{audio|"Texarkana and Northern" Boogie-woogie bassline.mid|Play}}]]

[[boogie-woogie (music)|Boogie-woogie]] was another important style of 1930s and early 1940s urban blues. While the style is often associated with solo piano, boogie-woogie was also used to accompany singers and, as a solo part, in bands and small combos. Boogie-woogie style was characterized by a regular bass figure, an [[ostinato]] or [[riff]] and [[shift of level|shifts of level]] in the left hand, elaborating each chord and trills and decorations in the right hand. Boogie-woogie was pioneered by the Chicago-based [[Jimmy Yancey]] and the Boogie-Woogie Trio ([[Albert Ammons]], [[Pete Johnson (musician)|Pete Johnson]] and [[Meade Lux Lewis]]).<ref>{{cite AV media notes|title=Boogie Woogie Trio|last=Oliver|first=Paul|publisher=Storyville|id=SLP 184|location=Copenhagen|type=vinyl back cover}}</ref> Chicago boogie-woogie performers included [[Pinetop Smith|Clarence "Pine Top" Smith]] and [[Earl Hines]], who "linked the propulsive left-hand rhythms of the ragtime pianists with melodic figures similar to those of Armstrong's trumpet in the right hand".<ref name="qzdblv"/> The smooth Louisiana style of [[Professor Longhair]] and, more recently, [[Dr. John]] blends classic rhythm and blues with blues styles.

Another development in this period was [[big band]] blues. The "[[territory band]]s" operating out of [[Kansas City metropolitan area|Kansas City]], the [[Bennie Moten]] orchestra, [[Jay McShann]], and the [[Count Basie Orchestra]] were also concentrating on the blues, with 12-bar blues instrumentals such as Basie's "[[One O'Clock Jump]]" and "[[Jumpin' at the Woodside]]" and boisterous "[[blues shouter|blues shouting]]" by [[Jimmy Rushing]] on songs such as "Going to Chicago" and "[[Sent for You Yesterday]]". A well-known big band blues tune is [[Glenn Miller]]'s "[[In the Mood]]". In the 1940s, the [[jump blues]] style developed. Jump blues grew up from the boogie-woogie wave and was strongly influenced by big band music. It uses [[saxophone]] or other [[brass instrument]]s and the guitar in the rhythm section to create a jazzy, up-tempo sound with declamatory vocals. Jump blues tunes by [[Louis Jordan]] and [[Big Joe Turner]], based in [[Kansas City, Missouri]], influenced the development of later styles such as rock and roll and rhythm and blues.<ref>Garofalo, p. 76</ref> Dallas-born [[T-Bone Walker]], who is often associated with the [[West Coast blues|California blues]] style,<ref>Komara, p. 120</ref> performed a successful transition from the early urban blues à la [[Lonnie Johnson (musician)|Lonnie Johnson]] and Leroy Carr to the jump blues style and dominated the blues-jazz scene at Los Angeles during the 1940s.<ref>Humphrey, Mark A. In ''Nothing but the Blues''. pp. 175–177</ref>

===1950s===
The transition from country blues to urban blues that began in the 1920s was driven by the successive waves of economic crisis and booms that led many rural blacks to move to urban areas, in a movement known as the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]]. The long [[post–World War II economic expansion|boom following World War II]] induced another massive migration of the African-American population, the [[Second Great Migration (African American)|Second Great Migration]], which was accompanied by a significant increase of the real income of the urban blacks. The new migrants constituted a new market for the music industry. The term ''[[race record]]'', initially used by the [[music industry]] for [[African-American]] music, was replaced by the term ''[[rhythm and blues]]''. This rapidly evolving market was mirrored by ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' magazine's [[Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs|Rhythm & Blues chart]]. This marketing strategy reinforced trends in urban blues music such as the use of electric instruments and [[instrument amplifier|amplification]] and the generalization of the blues beat, the [[blues shuffle]], which became ubiquitous in rhythm and blues (R&B). This commercial stream had important consequences for blues music, which, together with [[jazz]] and [[gospel music]], became a component of R&B.<ref>Pearson, Barry. In ''Nothing but the Blues''. pp. 313–314</ref>

[[File:JohnLeeHooker1997.jpg|thumb|[[John Lee Hooker]]]]

After World War II, new styles of [[electric blues]] became popular in cities such as [[Chicago]],<ref>Komara, p. 118</ref> [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]],<ref>Humphrey, Mark. A. In ''Nothing but the Blues''. p. 179</ref> [[Detroit, Michigan|Detroit]]<ref name="Herzhaft, pg. 53">Herzhaft, p. 53</ref><ref>{{cite AV media notes|title=Detroit Ghetto Blues 1948 to 1954|last=Pierson|first=Leroy|publisher=[[Nighthawk Records]]|id=104|year=1976|location=St. Louis|type=LP back cover notes|url=http://www.wirz.de/music/nighthaw/grafik/104b4.jpg}}</ref> and [[St. Louis]]. Electric blues used [[electric guitar]]s, [[double bass]] (gradually replaced by [[bass guitar]]), [[drum kit|drums]], and [[harmonica]] (or "blues harp") played through a microphone and a [[Public address|PA system]] or an [[Distortion (music)|overdriven]] [[guitar amplifier]]. Chicago became a center for electric blues from 1948 on, when [[Muddy Waters]] recorded his first success, "I Can't Be Satisfied".<ref>Humphrey, Mark A. In ''Nothing but the Blues''. p. 180</ref> [[Chicago blues]] is influenced to a large extent by [[Delta blues]], because many performers had migrated from the [[Mississippi]] region.

[[Howlin' Wolf]], Muddy Waters, [[Willie Dixon]] and [[Jimmy Reed]] were all born in Mississippi and moved to Chicago during the Great Migration. Their style is characterized by the use of electric guitar, sometimes slide guitar, harmonica, and a rhythm section of bass and drums.<ref name=pc4>{{Pop Chronicles|4| |Howlin' Wolf & Jimmy Reed}}</ref> The saxophonist [[J. T. Brown (musician)|J. T. Brown]] played in bands led by [[Elmore James]] and by [[J. B. Lenoir]], but the [[saxophone]] was used as a backing instrument for rhythmic support more than as a lead instrument.

[[Little Walter]], [[Sonny Boy Williamson II|Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller)]] and [[Sonny Terry]] are well known harmonica (called "[[Harmonica techniques#Blues harp (2nd position)|harp]]" by blues musicians) players of the early Chicago blues scene. Other harp players such as [[Big Walter Horton]] were also influential. Muddy Waters and Elmore James were known for their innovative use of slide electric guitar. Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters were known for their deep, "gravelly" voices.

The bassist and prolific songwriter and composer [[Willie Dixon]] played a major role on the Chicago blues scene. He composed and wrote many [[blues standard|standard blues]] songs of the period, such as "[[Hoochie Coochie Man]]", "[[I Just Want to Make Love to You]]" (both penned for Muddy Waters), and "[[Wang Dang Doodle]]" and "[[Back Door Man]]" for Howlin' Wolf. Most artists of the Chicago blues style recorded for the Chicago-based [[Chess Records]] and [[Checker Records]] labels. Smaller blues labels of this era included [[Vee-Jay Records]] and [[J.O.B. Records]]. During the early 1950s, the dominating Chicago labels were challenged by [[Sam Phillips]]' [[Sun Records]] company in Memphis, which recorded [[B. B. King]] and Howlin' Wolf before he moved to Chicago in 1960.<ref>Humphrey, Mark A. In ''Nothing but the Blues''. p. 187</ref> After Phillips discovered [[Elvis Presley]] in 1954, the Sun label turned to the rapidly expanding white audience and started recording mostly [[Rock and roll|rock 'n' roll]].<ref>Pearson, Barry. In ''Nothing but the Blues''. p. 342</ref>

In the 1950s, blues had a huge influence on mainstream American [[popular music]]. While popular musicians like [[Bo Diddley]]<ref name="Herzhaft, pg. 53"/> and [[Chuck Berry]],<ref>Herzhaft, p. 11</ref> both recording for Chess, were influenced by the Chicago blues, their enthusiastic playing styles departed from the melancholy aspects of blues. Chicago blues also influenced [[Louisiana]]'s [[zydeco]] music,<ref>Herzhaft, p. 236</ref> with [[Clifton Chenier]]<ref>Herzhaft, p. 35</ref> using blues accents. Zydeco musicians used electric solo guitar and [[cajun]] arrangements of blues standards.

[[File:KeithR2.JPG|thumb|right|250px|[[Keith Richards]] guitarist for [[The Rolling Stones]], Richards was instrumental in bringing blues to the forefront of rock music. Inspired by American bluesmen like [[Muddy Waters]]]]

In England, electric blues took root there during a much acclaimed Muddy Waters tour in 1958. Waters, unsuspecting of his audience's tendency towards [[skiffle]], an acoustic, softer brand of blues, turned up his amp and started to play his Chicago brand of electric blues. Although the audience was largely jolted by the performance, the performance influenced local musicians such as [[Alexis Korner]] and [[Cyril Davies]] to emulate this louder style, inspiring the [[British Invasion]] of the [[Rolling Stones]] and the [[Yardbirds]].<ref>Palmer (1981), pp. 257–259</ref>

In the late 1950s, a new blues style emerged on Chicago's [[West Side, Chicago|West Side]] pioneered by [[Magic Sam]], [[Buddy Guy]], and [[Otis Rush]] on [[Cobra Records]].<ref>Komara, p. 49</ref> The "West Side sound" had strong rhythmic support from a rhythm guitar, bass guitar, and drums and as perfected by Guy, [[Freddie King]], [[Magic Slim]], and [[Luther Allison]], was dominated by amplified electric lead guitar.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/151.html|title=Blues|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Chicago|access-date=August 13, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=West Side Chicago Blues|url=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=11835|work=All About Jazz|author=Bailey, C. Michael|date=October 4, 2003|access-date=August 13, 2008}}</ref> Expressive [[guitar solo]]s were a key feature of this music.

Other blues artists, such as [[John Lee Hooker]], had influences not directly related to the Chicago style. John Lee Hooker's blues is more "personal", based on Hooker's deep rough voice accompanied by a single electric guitar. Though not directly influenced by boogie-woogie, his "groovy" style is sometimes called "guitar boogie". His first hit, "[[Boogie Chillen]]", reached number 1 on the R&B charts in 1949.<ref>Bjorn, Lars (2001). ''Before Motown''. University of Michigan Press. p. 175. {{ISBN|978-0-472-06765-7}}</ref>

By the late 1950s, the [[swamp blues]] genre developed near [[Baton Rouge]], with performers such as [[Lightnin' Slim]],<ref>Herzhaft, p. 116</ref> [[Slim Harpo]],<ref>Herzhaft, p. 188</ref> [[Sam Myers]] and [[Jerry McCain]] around the producer [[J. D. "Jay" Miller]] and the [[Excello Records|Excello]] label. Strongly influenced by [[Jimmy Reed]], swamp blues has a slower pace and a simpler use of the harmonica than the Chicago blues style performers such as Little Walter or Muddy Waters. Songs from this genre include "Scratch my Back," "She's Tough," and "[[I'm a King Bee]]". [[Alan Lomax]]'s recordings of [[Mississippi Fred McDowell]] would eventually bring him wider attention on both the blues and [[Folk music|folk]] circuit, with McDowell's droning style influencing [[North Mississippi hill country blues]] musicians.<ref name="msbluestrail1">{{cite web|url=http://www.msbluestrail.org/_webapp_1964090/Hill_Country_Blues|title=Hill Country Blues|publisher=Msbluestrail.org|access-date=September 13, 2011}}</ref>

===1960s and 1970s===
[[File:B.B. King, 2006-06-26.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|right|Blues legend [[B.B. King]] with his guitar, "[[Lucille (guitar)|Lucille]]"]]

By the beginning of the 1960s, genres influenced by [[African American music]] such as [[rock and roll]] and [[soul music|soul]] were part of mainstream popular music. White performers such as [[the Rolling Stones]] and [[the Beatles]] had brought African-American music to new audiences,  within the U.S. and abroad. However, the blues wave that brought artists such as Muddy Waters to the foreground had stopped. Bluesmen such as [[Big Bill Broonzy]] and [[Willie Dixon]] started looking for new markets in Europe. [[Dick Waterman]] and the blues festivals he organized in Europe played a major role in propagating blues music abroad. In the UK, bands emulated U.S. blues legends, and UK blues rock-based bands had an influential role throughout the 1960s.<ref>O'Neal, Jim. In ''Nothing but the Blues''. pp. 347–387</ref>

Blues performers such as [[John Lee Hooker]] and [[Muddy Waters]] continued to perform to enthusiastic audiences, inspiring new artists steeped in traditional blues, such as New York–born [[Taj Mahal (musician)|Taj Mahal]]. [[John Lee Hooker]] blended his blues style with rock elements and playing with younger white musicians, creating a musical style that can be heard on the 1971 album ''[[Endless Boogie]]''. [[B. B. King]]'s singing and virtuoso guitar technique earned him the eponymous title "king of the blues". King introduced a sophisticated style of [[guitar solo]]ing based on fluid [[string bending]] and shimmering [[vibrato]] that influenced many later electric blues guitarists.<ref>Komara, Edward M. (2006). ''Encyclopedia of the Blues''. Routledge. p. 385</ref> In contrast to the Chicago style, King's band used strong brass support from a saxophone, trumpet, and trombone, instead of using slide guitar or harp. [[Tennessee]]-born [[Bobby Bland|Bobby "Blue" Bland]], like B. B. King, also straddled the blues and R&B genres. During this period, [[Freddie King]] and [[Albert King]] often played with rock and [[Soul music|soul]] musicians ([[Eric Clapton]] and [[Booker T & the MGs]]) and had a major influence on those styles of music.

[[File:KokoTaylor2006.jpg|thumb|right|230px|[[Koko Taylor]], known as the "Queen of the Blues," was renowned for her powerful, soulful voice and commanding presence.]]

The music of the [[civil rights movement]]<ref name="Koroma, pg. 122">Komara, p. 122</ref> and [[Free Speech Movement]] in the U.S. prompted a [[American folk music revival|resurgence of interest in American roots music and early African-American music]]. As well, festivals such as the [[Newport Folk Festival]]<ref>Komara, p. 388</ref> brought traditional blues to a new audience, which helped to revive interest in prewar acoustic blues and performers such as [[Son House]], [[Mississippi John Hurt]], [[Skip James]], and [[Reverend Gary Davis]].<ref name="Koroma, pg. 122"/> Many compilations of classic prewar blues were republished by the [[Yazoo Records]]. [[J. B. Lenoir]] from the Chicago blues movement in the 1950s recorded several LPs using acoustic guitar, sometimes accompanied by [[Willie Dixon]] on the acoustic bass or drums. His songs, originally distributed only in Europe,<ref>O'Neal, Jim. In ''Nothing but the Blues''. p. 380</ref> commented on political issues such as [[racism]] or [[Vietnam War]] issues, which was unusual for this period. His album ''Alabama Blues'' contained a song with the following lyric:
{{poemquote|I never will go back to Alabama, that is not the place for me,
I never will go back to Alabama, that is not the place for me.
You know they killed my sister and my brother
and the whole world let them peoples go down there free}}[[File:Stevie Ray Vaughan Live 1983.jpg|thumb|upright|Texas blues guitarist [[Stevie Ray Vaughan]], 1983]]
White audiences' interest in the blues during the 1960s increased due to the Chicago-based [[Paul Butterfield|Paul Butterfield Blues Band]], featuring guitarist [[Mike Bloomfield|Michael Bloomfield]] and singer/songwriter [[Nick Gravenites]], and the [[British blues]] movement. The style of [[British blues]] developed in the UK, when musicians such as  [[Cyril Davies]], [[Alexis Korner]]'s Blues Incorporated, [[Fleetwood Mac]], [[John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers]], the [[The Rolling Stones|Rolling Stones]], [[The Animals|Animals]], the [[The Yardbirds|Yardbirds]], [[Aynsley Dunbar]] Retaliation,<ref>[https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-aynsley-dunbar-retaliation-mn0001224502  Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation], ''[[AllMusic]]'', Retrieved 9 November 2022</ref> [[Chicken Shack]],<ref>[http://www.stanwebb.co.uk/index.php?view=article&catid=10%3Ahistory&id=35%3Abeginnings&option=com_content&Itemid=46  Stan Webb's Chickenshack Beginnings] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719185459/http://www.stanwebb.co.uk/index.php?view=article&catid=10:history&id=35:beginnings&option=com_content&Itemid=46 |date=July 19, 2011 }}, ''Stanwebb.co.uk''. Retrieved 4 November 2022</ref> early [[Jethro Tull (band)|Jethro Tull]], [[Cream (band)|Cream]], and the Irish musician [[Rory Gallagher]] performed classic blues songs from the [[Delta blues|Delta]] or [[Chicago blues]] traditions.

In 1963, [[Amiri Baraka]], then known as LeRoi Jones, was the first to write a book on the social history of the blues in ''Blues People: The Negro Music in White America''. The British and blues musicians of the early 1960s inspired a number of American [[blues rock]] performers, including [[Canned Heat]], [[Janis Joplin]], [[Johnny Winter]], [[the J. Geils Band]], [[Ry Cooder]], and the [[Allman Brothers Band]]. One blues rock performer, [[Jimi Hendrix]], was a rarity in his field at the time: a Black man who played [[psychedelic rock]]. Hendrix was a skilled guitarist, and a pioneer in the innovative use of [[distortion]] and [[audio feedback]] in his music.<ref>Garofalo, pp. 224–225</ref> Through these artists and others, blues music influenced the development of [[rock music]]. Later in the 1960s, British singer [[Jo Ann Kelly]] started her recording career. In the US, from the 1970s, female singers [[Bonnie Raitt]] and [[Phoebe Snow]] performed blues.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/san-francisco-bay-blues-mt0009236274|title=Phoebe Snow San Francisco Bay Blues|publisher=AllMusic| access-date=4 November 2022}}</ref>

In the early 1970s, the [[Texas blues|Texas rock-blues style]] emerged, which used guitars in both solo and rhythm roles. In contrast with the West Side blues, the Texas style is strongly influenced by the British rock-blues movement. Major artists of the Texas style are [[Johnny Winter]], [[Stevie Ray Vaughan]], the [[The Fabulous Thunderbirds|Fabulous Thunderbirds]] (led by [[harmonica]] player and singer-songwriter [[Kim Wilson]]), and [[ZZ Top]]. These artists all began their musical careers in the 1970s but they did not achieve international success until the next decade.<ref>Komara, p. 50</ref>

===1980s to the present===
[[File:Zucchero 01 trim.jpg|thumb|left|Italian singer [[Zucchero Fornaciari|Zucchero]] is credited as the "Father of Italian Blues", and is among the few European blues artists who still enjoy international success.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dicaire |first=David |date=2001 |title=More Blues Singers: Biographies of 50 Artists from the Later 20th Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SPvhCgAAQBAJ |publisher=McFarland |pages=232–248 |isbn=9780786410354}}</ref>]]
Since the 1980s, there has been a resurgence of interest in the blues among a certain part of the African-American population, particularly around [[Jackson, Mississippi]], and other [[deep South]] regions. Often termed "[[soul blues]]" or "[[Southern soul]]", the music at the heart of this movement was given new life by the unexpected success of two particular recordings on the Jackson-based [[Malaco Records|Malaco]] label:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.visitmississippi.org/press_news/Malaco%20Blues%20Marker%20April%208.pdf |title=Malaco Records to be honored with blues trail marker |author=Martin, Stephen |publisher=Mississippi Development Authority |date=April 3, 2008 |access-date=August 28, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080910032302/http://www.visitmississippi.org/press_news/Malaco%20Blues%20Marker%20April%208.pdf |archive-date=September 10, 2008 }}</ref> [[Z. Z. Hill]]'s ''Down Home Blues'' (1982) and [[Little Milton]]'s ''The Blues is Alright'' (1984). Contemporary African-American performers who work in this style of the blues include [[Bobby Rush (musician)|Bobby Rush]], [[Denise LaSalle]], [[Sir Charles Jones]], [[Bettye LaVette]], [[Marvin Sease]], [[Peggy Scott-Adams]], [[Clarence Carter]], [[Charles Bradley (singer)|Charles Bradley]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thecharlesbradley.com/#bio|title=Charles Bradley Bio|website=Thecharlesbradley.com|date=February 19, 2024 | access-date=13 January 2025}}</ref> [[Trudy Lynn]], [[Roy C]], [[Barbara Carr]], [[Willie Clayton]], and [[Shirley Brown]], among others.

[[File:Eric Clapton 2.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.1|[[Eric Clapton]] performing at Hyde Park, London, in June 2008]]

During the 1980s, blues also continued in both traditional and new forms. In 1986, the album ''[[Strong Persuader]]'' announced [[Robert Cray]] as a major blues artist. The first [[Stevie Ray Vaughan]] recording ''[[Texas Flood]]'' was released in 1983, and the Texas-based guitarist exploded onto the international stage. [[John Lee Hooker]]'s popularity was revived with the album ''[[The Healer (John Lee Hooker album)|The Healer]]'' in 1989. [[Eric Clapton]], known for his performances with [[John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers|the Blues Breakers]] and [[Cream (band)|Cream]], made a comeback in the 1990s with his album ''[[Unplugged (Eric Clapton album)|Unplugged]]'', in which he played some standard blues numbers on acoustic guitar.

However, beginning in the 1990s, [[digital recording|digital multi-track recording]] and other technological advances and new marketing strategies, including [[Music video|video clip]] production, increased costs, challenging the spontaneity and improvisation that are an important component of blues music.<ref>Aldin, Mary Katherine. In ''Nothing but the Blues''. p. 130</ref> In the 1980s and 1990s, blues publications such as ''[[Living Blues]]'' and ''Blues Revue'' were launched, major cities began forming blues societies, outdoor blues festivals became more common, and [[Tedeschi Trucks Band]] and [[Gov't Mule]] released blues rock albums. Female blues singers such as [[Bonnie Raitt]], [[Susan Tedeschi]], [[Sue Foley]], and [[Shannon Curfman]] also recorded albums.

[[File:ETTA JAMES.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Etta James]] career spanned multiple decades, and she continued to impact the blues world into the 1990s with her powerful voice and ability to blend blues with soul, gospel, and R&B.]]

In the 1990s, the largely ignored [[hill country blues]] gained minor recognition in both blues and [[alternative rock]] music circles with northern Mississippi artists [[R. L. Burnside]] and [[Junior Kimbrough]].<ref name="msbluestrail1"/> Blues performers explored a range of musical genres, for example, from the broad array of nominees of the yearly [[Blues Music Award]]s (previously named [[W.C. Handy]] Awards)<ref>{{cite web|title=Blues Music Awards information |url=http://www.blues.org/bluesmusicawards/ |access-date=November 25, 2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060429073938/http://www.blues.org/bluesmusicawards/ |archive-date=April 29, 2006}}</ref> or of the [[Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album|Grammy Awards for Best Contemporary]] and [[Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album|Traditional Blues Album]]. The ''Billboard'' Blues Album chart provides an overview of current blues hits. Contemporary blues music is nurtured by several blues labels such as [[Alligator Records]], [[Ruf Records]], [[Severn Records]], [[Chess Records]] ([[Music Corporation of America|MCA]]), [[Delmark Records]], [[NorthernBlues Music]], [[Fat Possum Records]], and [[Vanguard Records]] (Artemis Records). Some labels are famous for rediscovering and remastering blues rarities, including [[Arhoolie Records]], [[Smithsonian Folkways Recordings]] (heir of [[Folkways Records]]), and [[Yazoo Records]] ([[Shanachie Records]]).

==Musical impact==
[[File:Joe_Bonamassa_-_Radio_City_Music_Hall_Jan_2014.jpg|thumb|left|[[Joe Bonamassa]] is a virtuoso blues guitarist who blends traditional blues with rock, bringing the genre to new audiences.]]

Blues musical styles, forms (12-bar blues), melodies, and the blues scale have influenced many other genres of music, such as rock and roll, jazz, and popular music.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.googobits.com/articles/p6-2006-the-blues--the-revolution-of-music.html |title=The Blues: The Revolution of Music |author=Jennifer Nicole |date=August 15, 2005 |access-date=August 17, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080906220010/http://www.googobits.com/articles/p6-2006-the-blues--the-revolution-of-music.html |archive-date=September 6, 2008}}</ref> Prominent jazz, folk, or rock performers, such as [[Louis Armstrong]], [[Duke Ellington]], [[Miles Davis]], and [[Bob Dylan]], have performed significant blues recordings. The blues scale is often used in [[popular song]]s like [[Harold Arlen]]'s "Blues in the Night", [[blues ballad]]s like "Since I Fell for You" and "Please Send Me Someone to Love", and even in orchestral works such as [[George Gershwin]]'s "[[Rhapsody in Blue]]" and "[[Concerto in F]]". Gershwin's second "Prelude" for solo piano is an interesting example of a classical blues, maintaining the form with academic strictness. The blues scale is ubiquitous in modern popular music and informs many [[modal frame]]s, especially the [[ladder of thirds]] used in rock music (for example, in "[[A Hard Day's Night (song)|A Hard Day's Night]]"). Blues forms are used in the theme to the televised ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'', [[teen idol]] [[Fabian Forte]]'s hit, "Turn Me Loose", [[country music]] star [[Jimmie Rodgers (country singer)|Jimmie Rodgers]]' music, and guitarist/vocalist [[Tracy Chapman]]'s hit "Give Me One Reason".

{{quote box|quote="Blues singing is about emotion. Its influence on popular singing has been so widespread that, at least among males, singing and emoting have become almost identical—it is a matter of projection rather than hitting the notes."<ref>{{cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|date=June 15, 1972|url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/news/nd720615.php|title=A Power Plant|newspaper=[[Newsday]]|access-date=September 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190426105401/https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/news/nd720615.php|archive-date=April 26, 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref>|source=—[[Robert Christgau]], 1972|width=23%|align=right|style=padding:8px;}}

Early country bluesmen such as [[Skip James]], [[Charley Patton]], and [[Georgia Tom Dorsey]] played country and urban blues and had influences from spiritual singing. Dorsey helped to popularize [[Gospel music]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://afgen.com/gospel1.html|title=History of gospel music|author=Phil Petrie|website=Afgen.com|access-date=September 8, 2008}}</ref> Gospel music developed in the 1930s, with the [[Golden Gate Quartet]]. In the 1950s, [[soul music]] by [[Sam Cooke]], [[Ray Charles]], and [[James Brown]] used gospel and blues music elements. In the 1960s and 1970s, gospel and blues were merged in [[soul blues]] music. [[Funk]] music of the 1970s was influenced by soul; funk can be seen as an antecedent of hip-hop and contemporary R&B.

[[Rhythm and blues|R&B]] music can be traced back to [[Spiritual (music)|spirituals]] and blues. Musically, spirituals were a descendant of [[New England]] choral traditions, and in particular of [[Isaac Watts]]'s [[hymn]]s, mixed with African rhythms and call-and-response forms. Spirituals or religious chants in the African-American community are much better documented than the "low-down" blues. Spiritual singing developed because African-American communities could gather for mass or worship gatherings, which were called [[camp meeting]]s.

Edward P. Comentale has noted how the blues was often used as a medium for art or self-expression, stating: "As heard from Delta shacks to Chicago tenements to Harlem cabarets, the blues proved—despite its pained origins—a remarkably flexible medium and a new arena for the shaping of identity and community."<ref>{{cite book|last=Comentale|first=Edward|title=Sweet Air|year=2013|publisher=University of Illinois Press|location=Chicago, Illinois|isbn=978-0-252-07892-7|page=31}}</ref>

[[File:Duke Ellington at the Hurricane Club 1943.jpg|thumb|left|[[Duke Ellington]] straddled the [[big band]] and [[bebop]] genres. Ellington extensively used the blues form.<ref name=monk>{{cite web|url=http://www.jazzinamerica.org/pdf/1/Influence%20of%20Jazz%20on%20Blues.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.jazzinamerica.org/pdf/1/Influence%20of%20Jazz%20on%20Blues.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=The Influence of the Blues on Jazz|publisher=Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz|access-date=August 17, 2008}}</ref>]]

Before [[World War II]], the boundaries between blues and [[jazz]] were less clear. Usually, jazz had harmonic structures stemming from [[brass band]]s, whereas blues had blues forms such as the 12-bar blues. However, the jump blues of the 1940s mixed both styles. After WWII, blues had a substantial influence on jazz. [[Bebop]] classics, such as [[Charlie Parker]]'s "Now's the Time", used the blues form with the pentatonic scale and blue notes.

Bebop marked a major shift in the role of jazz, from a popular style of music for dancing to a "high-art", less accessible, cerebral "musician's music". The audience for both blues and jazz split, and the border between blues and jazz became more defined.<ref name=monk/><ref>{{cite book|title=Roots of the Classical: The Popular Origins of Western Music|author=Peter van der Merwe |author-link=Peter van der Merwe (musicologist) |publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2004|isbn=978-0-19-816647-4|page=461}}</ref>

The blues' 12-bar structure and the blues scale was a major influence on [[rock and roll]] music. Rock and roll has been called "blues with a [[Backbeat (music)|backbeat]]"; [[Carl Perkins]] called [[rockabilly]] "blues with a [[country music|country]] beat". Rockabillies were also said to be 12-bar blues played with a [[bluegrass music|bluegrass]] beat. "[[Hound Dog (song)|Hound Dog]]", with its unmodified 12-bar structure (in both harmony and lyrics) and a melody centered on flatted third of the tonic (and flatted seventh of the subdominant), is a blues song transformed into a rock and roll song. [[Jerry Lee Lewis]]'s style of rock and roll was heavily influenced by the blues and its derivative boogie-woogie. His style of music was not exactly rockabilly but it has been often called real rock and roll (this is a label he shares with several African-American rock and roll performers).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lclark.edu/~ria/the_bl~1.htm |title=The Blues Influence On Rock & Roll |access-date=August 17, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070404040053/http://www.lclark.edu/~ria/the_bl~1.htm |archive-date=April 4, 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zip-country.com/Rock.htm |title=History of Rock and Roll |work=Zip-Country Homepage |access-date=September 2, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828232939/http://www.zip-country.com/Rock.htm |archive-date=August 28, 2008 }}</ref>

[[File:Jerry Lee Lewis @ Credicard Hall 01.jpg|thumb|[[Jerry Lee Lewis]] influenced by blues and boogie-woogie, was a key bridge between rock and roll and its blues origins]]

Many early rock and roll songs are based on blues: "[[That's All Right Mama]]", "[[Johnny B. Goode]]", "[[Blue Suede Shoes]]", "[[Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On]]", "[[Shake, Rattle, and Roll]]", and "[[Long Tall Sally]]". The early African-American rock musicians retained the sexual themes and innuendos of blues music: "Got a gal named Sue, knows just what to do" ("[[Tutti Frutti (song)|Tutti Frutti]]", [[Little Richard]]) or "See the girl with the red dress on, She can do the Birdland all night long" ("[[What'd I Say (song)|What'd I Say]]", [[Ray Charles]]). The 12-bar blues structure can be found even in novelty pop songs, such as [[Bob Dylan]]'s "[[Obviously Five Believers]]" and [[Esther and Abi Ofarim]]'s "[[Cinderella Rockefella]]".

Early [[country music]] was infused with the blues.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.colum.edu/CBMR/Styles_and_Genres/Country_Music.php|title=Country music|publisher=Columbia College Chicago|date=2007–2008|access-date=September 2, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080602011023/http://www.colum.edu/CBMR/Styles_and_Genres/Country_Music.php|archive-date=June 2, 2008}}</ref> [[Jimmie Rodgers (country singer)|Jimmie Rodgers]], [[Moon Mullican]], [[Bob Wills]], [[Bill Monroe]], and [[Hank Williams]] have all described themselves as blues singers and their music has a blues feel that is different, at first glance at least, from the later country-pop of artists like [[Eddy Arnold]]. Yet, if one looks back further, Arnold also started out singing bluesy songs like 'I'll Hold You in My Heart'. A lot of the 1970s-era "outlaw" country music by [[Willie Nelson]] and [[Waylon Jennings]] also borrowed from the blues. When [[Jerry Lee Lewis]] returned to country music after the decline of 1950s style rock and roll, he sang with a blues feel and often included blues standards on his albums.

==In popular culture==
[[File:Tajmahalblues.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.8|The music of [[Taj Mahal (musician)|Taj Mahal]] for the 1972 movie ''[[Sounder (film)|Sounder]]'' marked a revival of interest in acoustic blues.]]
Like many other genres, blues has been called the "[[Satan|devil]]'s music" or "music of the devil", even of inciting violence and other poor behavior.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Curiel|first=Jonathan|date=2004-08-15|title=Muslim roots of the blues / The music of famous American blues singers reaches back through the South to the culture of West Africa|url=https://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Muslim-roots-of-the-blues-The-music-of-famous-2701489.php|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050905161734/http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=%2Fchronicle%2Farchive%2F2004%2F08%2F15%2FINGMC85SSK1.DTL|archive-date=Sep 5, 2005|access-date=2021-10-26|website=SFGATE|language=en-US}}</ref> In the early 20th century, the blues was considered disreputable, especially as white audiences began listening to the blues during the 1920s.<ref name="trkeja"/> The close association with the devil was actually a well-known characteristic of blues lyrics and culture between the 1920s and 1960s. The devil's connection to the blues has faded from popular memory since then for a number of reasons, other than in the narrow sense of Robert Johnson selling his soul to the devil at the crossroads. A study of the devil's role in the blues was published in 2017, called ''Beyond the Crossroads: The Devil & The Blues Tradition''.<ref>{{cite book |title=Beyond the Crossroads: The Devil and the Blues Tradition |publisher=The University of North Carolina Press |first=Adam |last=Gussow |author-link=Gussow |year=2017 |url=https://archive.org/details/beyondcrossroads0000guss}}</ref>

During the blues revival of the 1960s and 1970s, acoustic blues artist [[Taj Mahal (musician)|Taj Mahal]] and Texas bluesman [[Lightnin' Hopkins]] wrote and performed music that figured prominently in the critically acclaimed film ''[[Sounder (film)|Sounder]]'' (1972). The film earned Mahal a [[Grammy Award|Grammy]] nomination for Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture and a [[BAFTA]] nomination.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}} Almost 30&nbsp;years later, Mahal wrote blues for, and performed a banjo composition, claw-hammer style, in the 2001 movie release ''[[Songcatcher]]'', which focused on the story of the preservation of the [[Appalachian music|roots music of Appalachia]].

[[File:Dan Aykroyd on set of MTV Music Television NYC.jpg|thumb|left|[[Dan Aykroyd]] helped popularize blues music through his role in [[The Blues Brothers]] film, which brought together iconic blues artists and introduced the genre to a wider audience.]]

Perhaps the most visible example of the blues style of music in the late 20th century came in 1980, when [[Dan Aykroyd]] and [[John Belushi]] released the film ''[[The Blues Brothers (film)|The Blues Brothers]]''. The film drew many of the biggest living influencers of the [[rhythm and blues]] genre together, such as [[Ray Charles]], [[James Brown]], [[Cab Calloway]], [[Aretha Franklin]], and [[John Lee Hooker]]. The band formed also began a successful tour under the [[The Blues Brothers|Blues Brothers]] marquee. 1998 brought a sequel, ''[[Blues Brothers 2000]]'' that, while not holding as great a critical and financial success, featured a much larger number of blues artists, such as [[B.B. King]], [[Bo Diddley]], [[Erykah Badu]], [[Eric Clapton]], [[Steve Winwood]], [[Charlie Musselwhite]], [[Blues Traveler]], [[Jimmie Vaughan]], and [[Jeff Baxter]].

In 2003, [[Martin Scorsese]] made significant efforts to promote the blues to a larger audience. He asked several famous directors, such as [[Clint Eastwood]] and [[Wim Wenders]], to participate in a series of documentary films for [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] called ''[[The Blues (film)|The Blues]]''.<ref>{{Citation |title=The Blues |date=2003-09-28 |type=Documentary, Music |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0287198/ |access-date=2025-05-18 |others=B. B. King, Ike Turner, Pinetop Perkins |publisher=Road Movies Filmproduktion, Vulcan Productions}}</ref> He also participated in the rendition of compilations of major blues artists in a series of high-quality CDs. Blues guitarist and vocalist [[Keb' Mo']] performed his blues rendition of "[[America, the Beautiful]]" in 2006 to close out the final season of the television series ''[[The West Wing]]''.

The blues was highlighted in season 2012, episode 1 of ''[[In Performance at the White House]]'', entitled "Red, White and Blues". Hosted by [[Barack]] and [[Michelle Obama]], the show featured performances by [[B.B. King]], [[Buddy Guy]], [[Gary Clark Jr.]], [[Jeff Beck]], [[Derek Trucks]], [[Keb Mo]], and others.<ref>{{cite web |title=In Performance at the White House: Red, White and Blues |url=http://www.pbs.org/inperformanceatthewhitehouse/shows/red-white-and-blues/ |website=PBS |access-date=July 23, 2018 |archive-date=July 24, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180724002319/http://www.pbs.org/inperformanceatthewhitehouse/shows/red-white-and-blues/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The 2025 vampire horror film ''[[Sinners (2025 film)|Sinners]]'' explores the blues genre through a supernatural narrative placed in the 1930s Mississippi Delta.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sinners BBFC |url=https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/sinners-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0xmdi0mdu0 |website=BBFC|access-date=April 26, 2025|</ref>

==See also==
{{portal|Blues}}
* [[List of blues festivals]]
* [[List of blues musicians]]
* [[List of blues standards]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
<!-- No longer referenced: # {{note|BessieSmith}} Ewen, pg. 146-->
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==Bibliography==
* {{cite book |author=Barlow, William |chapter=Cashing In: 1900-1939 |title=Split Image: African Americans in the Mass Media |editor1-last=Dates |editor1-first=Jannette L. |editor2-last=Barlow |editor2-first=William |publisher=Howard University Press |year=1993 |edition=2nd |isbn=978-0-88258-178-1 |page=31}}
* Bransford, Steve (2004). [http://southernspaces.org/2004/blues-lower-chattahoochee-valley "Blues in the Lower Chattahoochee Valley"] ''Southern Spaces''.
* {{cite book|author=Clarke, Donald|title=The Rise and Fall of Popular Music|publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]]|year=1995|isbn=978-0-312-11573-9|url=https://archive.org/details/risefallofpopula00clar}}
* {{cite book|title=Nothing but the Blues: The Music and the Musicians|editor=Lawrence Cohn|editor-link=Lawrence Cohn|publisher=Abbeville Publishing Group (Abbeville Press, Inc.)|year=1993|isbn=978-1-55859-271-1|url=https://archive.org/details/nothingbutbluesm00cohn}}
* {{cite book|author=Dicaire, David|title=Blues Singers: Biographies of 50 Legendary Artists of the Early 20th Century|publisher=McFarland|year=1999|isbn=978-0-7864-0606-7|url=https://archive.org/details/bluessingersbiog00dica}}
* {{cite book|author=Ewen, David|title=Panorama of American Popular Music|url=https://archive.org/details/panoramaofameric00ewen|url-access=registration|publisher=Prentice Hall|year=1957|isbn=978-0-13-648360-1}}
* {{cite book|author=Ferris, Jean|title=America's Musical Landscape|publisher=Brown & Benchmark|year=1993|isbn=978-0-697-12516-3}}
* {{cite book|author=Garofalo, Reebee|title=Rockin' Out: Popular Music in the USA|publisher=Allyn & Bacon|year=1997|isbn=978-0-205-13703-9|url=https://archive.org/details/rockinoutpopular00garo_0}}
* {{cite book|author1=Herzhaft, Gérard|author2=Harris, Paul|author3=Debord, Brigitte|title=Encyclopedia of the Blues|publisher=[[University of Arkansas Press]]|year=1997|isbn=978-1-55728-452-5|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofbl00herz}}
* {{cite book|author=Komara, Edward M.|title=Encyclopedia of the Blues|publisher=Routledge|year=2006 |isbn=978-0-415-92699-7}}
* {{cite book|author= Kunzler, Martin|title=Jazz Lexikon|publisher=Rohwolt Taschenbuch Verlag|year=1988|isbn=978-3-499-16316-6|language=de}}
* {{cite book|author=Morales, Ed|title=The Latin Beat|publisher=[[Da Capo Press]]|year=2003|isbn=978-0-306-81018-3|url=https://archive.org/details/latinbeatrhythms00mora_0}}
* {{cite book|author=Oliver, Paul|author-link=Paul Oliver|author2=Wright, Richard|title=[[Blues Fell This Morning|Blues Fell This Morning: Meaning in the Blues]]|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1990|isbn=978-0-521-37793-5}}
* {{cite book|first=Robert|last=Palmer|author-link=Robert Palmer (author/producer)|title=Deep Blues|publisher=Viking|year=1981|isbn=978-0-670-49511-5|url=https://archive.org/details/deepblues00palme}}
* {{cite book|author=Schuller, Gunther|title=Early Jazz: Its Roots and Musical Development|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1968|isbn=978-0-19-504043-2|url=https://archive.org/details/earlyjazzitsroot00schu}}
* {{cite book|author=Southern, Eileen|title=The Music of Black Americans|publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company|W. W. Norton]]|year=1997|isbn=978-0-393-03843-9}}
* {{cite news|url=http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/08/15/INGMC85SSK1.DTL |title=Muslim Roots of the Blues |work=[[SFGate]] |access-date=August 24, 2005 |first=Jonathan |last=Curiel |date=August 15, 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050905161734/http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=%2Fchronicle%2Farchive%2F2004%2F08%2F15%2FINGMC85SSK1.DTL |archive-date=September 5, 2005}}

==Further reading==
{{Library resources box|by=no|onlinebooks=no|about=yes|lcheading=blues}}
* Abbott, Lynn; Doug Seroff. ''[https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Original_Blues.html?id=_lHJjwEACAAJ The Original Blues: The Emergence of the Blues in African-American Vaudeville, 1889–1926].'' Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 2019. {{ISBN|978-1-496-81002-1}}.
* Brown, Luther. [http://southernspaces.org/2006/inside-poor-monkeys "Inside Poor Monkey's"], ''[[Southern Spaces]]'', June 22, 2006.
* Dixon, Robert M.W.; Godrich, John (1970). ''Recording the Blues''. London: Studio Vista. 85 pp. SBN 289–79829–9.
* {{cite book|first=Giles|last=Oakley|title=The Devil's Music: A History of the Blues|publisher=BBC|location=London|year=1976|page=287|isbn=978-0-563-16012-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eVaedQMqi2UC}}{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* {{cite book|first=Charles|last= Keil|orig-year=1966|year=1991|title=Urban Blues|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago|url=https://archive.org/details/urbanblues0000keil|url-access=registration|isbn=978-0-226-42960-1}}
* {{cite book|first=Paul|last=Oliver|author-link=Paul Oliver|title=The Story of the Blues|edition=new|publisher=Northeastern University Press|year=1998|isbn=978-1-55553-355-7|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781555533540|url-access=registration}}
* {{cite book|first=Paul|last=Oliver|author-link=Paul Oliver|title=Conversation with the Blues, Volume 1|year=1965|publisher=Horizon Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-8180-1223-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YS0Vva57m8UC}}
* {{cite book|first=Mike|last=Rowe|title=Chicago Breakdown|publisher=Eddison Press|year=1973|isbn=978-0-85649-015-6}}
* {{cite book|first=Jeff Todd|last=Titon|title=Early Downhome Blues: A Musical and Cultural Analysis|edition=2nd|publisher=[[University of North Carolina Press]]|year=1994|isbn=978-0-8078-4482-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yPKlxdCBmk0C}}
* Welding, Peter; Brown, Toby, eds. (1991). ''Bluesland: Portraits of Twelve Major American Blues Masters''. New York: Penguin Group. 253 + [2] pp. {{ISBN|0-525-93375-1}}.

==External links==
{{Sister project links|Blues|v=no|n=no|b=no|q=no|s=no|d=Q9759}}
* [https://southernstudies.olemiss.edu/studying-the-blues-at-the-university-of-mississippi/ Center for the Study of Southern Culture and the University of Mississippi], the foremost institution for blues scholarship in the U.S. 
* [https://www.loc.gov/folklife/onlinecollections.html The American Folklife Center's Online Collections and Presentations]
* [http://www.BlueShoeProject.org/ The Blue Shoe Project – Nationwide (U.S.) Blues Education Programming]
* [https://www.pbs.org/theblues/ "The Blues"], documentary series by [[Martin Scorsese]], aired on [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]]
* [http://www.blues.org/ The Blues Foundation] 
* [https://web.archive.org/web/19980612235347/http://www.deltabluesmuseum.org/ The Delta Blues Museum] (archived 12 June 1998)
* [http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/lesson_plans/music_in_poetry/index.html The Music in Poetry]&nbsp;– [[Smithsonian Institution]] lesson plan on the blues, for teachers
* [http://www.wirz.de/music/american.htm American Music]: Archive of artist and record label discographies

{{Blues}}
{{Americanrootsmusic}}

{{Authority control}}

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