Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom

Sweet Soul Music tells the story of rhythm and blues and the southern dream of freedom. This music genre was born in the late 1940s and early 1950s in the United States.

Introduction

In the heat of the summer in 1965, an eighteen-year-old black man named Marquette Frye took a wrong turn on his way home from work in Watts, a predominantly African American section of Los Angeles. A minor traffic infraction turned into a physical altercation with police, which led to more confrontations and then full-scale rioting that lasted for six days. By the time it was over, thirty-four people were dead, over a thousand were injured, and large sections of Watts were burned to the ground.

The Birth of Rhythm and Blues

In the early 1940s, the South was a place of great turmoil and change. African Americans were leaving the cotton fields and sharecropping farms in droves, heading to the cities in search of a better life. At the same time, a new kind of music was beginning to take shape. This music would come to be known as Rhythm and Blues.

The Blues

The word “blues” probably comes from “blue devils,” a term used to describe the depressed state of mind associated with certain types of music. The first written use of the word was in an Saturday Review article by W.C. Handy in March 1914, in which he described a St Louis jazz band he’d heard: “the four were performing ‘the blues’ like they meant it.”

The blues has been called the “sad music of the South,” but it is also a music of survival, hope, and defiance. It developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries from a combination of African musical traditions and European musical traditions. The African traditions include work songs, spirituals, and chants, while the European tradition includes ballads and hymns.

The blues was originally performed by solo singers accompanied by a guitar or piano. These performers would sing about their personal experiences in a style that was both wry and direct. The lyrics often dealt with themes of love, loss, and heartache, but they could also be humorous or sexually suggestive.

Over time, the blues evolved from its solo origins into a group style known as ” Rhythm & Blues.” This new style was characterized by a backbeat (provided by drums), horns, and electric guitars. It was popularized by artists such as Muddy Waters, B.B. King, and Willie Dixon.

Boogie Woogie and the Jump Blues

The phrase “Rhythm and Blues” was first used by record companies in the mid 1940s to describe a new style of music that was appearing on jukeboxes across America. This music, which combined elements of blues, gospel, and jazz, was aimed at a black audience and was greatly influenced by the sounds of the southern states.

In the early 1940s, a new style of music known as boogie woogie began to emerge from the barrelhouses and juke joints of the deep South. Boogie woogie was a kind of piano-based blues that featured a driving, infectious beats. The Jump Blues, which developed out of boogie woogie, added horns and other instruments to create a sound that was both fresh and exciting.

Jump Blues quickly caught on with black audiences across America, and by the late 1940s, it had become one of the most popular forms of Rhythm and Blues. Many of the biggest names in Rhythm and Blues got their start playing Jump Blues, including Louis Jordan, Amos Milburn, and Willie Mae Thornton.

The Rise of Rhythm and Blues

It was the early 1950s, and the world was changing. African Americans were moving north in droves, leaving their homes in the South in search of a better life. With them, they brought their culture and music. One of the most popular genres to come out of this time was rhythm and blues.

The Spread of Rhythm and Blues

In the early 1950s, rhythm and blues was the primary engine of black popular music. It was the music of urban nightlife—the soundtrack of glamorous clubs, rowdy bars, and after-hours parties. It was sensual and erotic, liberating and rebellious. It was also the music of southern migrants who had journeyed north in search of a better life, bringing with them a deep connection to the blues, a rich store of folk songs, and a new spirit of defiance.

In the decade that followed, rhythm and blues spread like wildfire across the country. Black radio stations sprang up in cities large and small; record companies and nightclubs catering to black audiences proliferated; and a new generation of talented musicians—including Chuck Berry, Little Richard, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Al Green, Curtis Mayfield—emerged to create some of the most vibrant and influential music of the twentieth century.

The First Wave of Rhythm and Blues Stars

In the early 1940s, a new style of music called rhythm and blues began to develop in the cities of the southern United States. The term “rhythm and blues” was first used in a 1949 Billboard magazine article, and it referred to a new style of music that combined elements of both black gospel music and boogie-woogie.

The first wave of rhythm and blues stars included performers such as Louis Jordan, whose records were popular with both black and white audiences; Roy Brown, who had a hit with “Good Rocking Tonight”; and Big Joe Turner, whose song “Shake, Rattle, and Roll” became a smash hit in 1954. Rhythm and blues was also the foundation for the development of rock and roll in the 1950s.

The Golden Age of Rhythm and Blues

From the mid-1950s through the early 1970s, a musical revolution took place in the United States. In the South, a new kind of music was born. It was a music that brought together the sounds of the blues, gospel, and jazz. This music was called rhythm and blues.

The Second Wave of Rhythm and Blues Stars

In the late 1950s, a second wave of younger rhythm and blues performers emerged, many of whom were influenced by rock and roll. These artists created a new, more modern sound that appealed to a wider audience than the original R&B performers. Among the most popular of these artists were Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, Otis Redding, and James Brown.

The British Invasion

The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and other British bands invaded America in 1964, smashing the sales records of even the most popular black R&B artists. Yet this was not the first time that black music had been “discovered” by whites. In fact, the British Invasion was only the latest stage in a long and complex history of rhythm and blues music and its cross-cultural appeal.

As early as the 1920s, black musicians had been playing for white audiences in Northern cities like Chicago and New York. In the 1930s and 1940s, “race records”--discs marketed specifically to African American listeners--became increasingly popular, thanks in part to the booming jukebox industry. At the same time, white teenagers were beginning to appreciate rhythm and blues as well. In the 1950s, a new generation of white musicians--most famously Elvis Presley--took black music into the mainstream with a string of crossover hits.

The British Invasion of 1964 simply represented the latest iteration of this trend. While blacks continued to produce and consume rhythm and blues on a mass scale throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the genre’s popularity among whites began to wane. In recent years, however, there has been a renewed interest in rhythm and blues among both black and white listeners. As ourSweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues chronicles so beautifully, rhythm and blues continues to exert a profound influence on American culture.

The Legacy of Rhythm and Blues

Rhythm and blues was born in theSouth out of a unique blend of African and European musical traditions. The music was a product of the culture of both the rural South and the cities, and it represented a new kind of freedom for both black and white Americans.

The Third Wave of Rhythm and Blues Stars

The third wave of Rhythm and Blues stars was a group of artists who continued the sound and style of the genre, while also adding their own unique flair. These artists were immensely popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and they helped to keep Rhythm and Blues alive during a time when it was struggling to stay relevant. Some of the most famous third wave artists include Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Al Green, and Curtis Mayfield. These artists continued to build on the foundations laid by earlier musicians, and they created some of the most iconic R&B songs of all time.

The Influence of Rhythm and Blues

The legacy of rhythm and blues is evident in many different genres of music today. This style of music emerged in the 1940s and 1950s, and was originally performed by African American musicians. It was a blend of blues, jazz, and gospel music, and was characterized by a strong beat and soulful vocals.

Rhythm and blues played an important role in the civil rights movement, as it was a way for African Americans to express their frustration with discrimination and inequality. The songs often had lyrics that spoke to the struggles of daily life, and they resonated with many people who were fighting for change.

The influence of rhythm and blues can still be heard in popular music today. Many contemporary artists have been influenced by the sound of this genre, and it has become a staple in various genres such as hip hop, R&B, and pop.