Who Founded Blues Music?

The origins of blues music are often debated – but there’s no denying that it’s a genre with a rich history. Who founded blues music, and how did it come to be the sound we know today? Read on to find out.

The Origins of Blues Music

Blues music is a genre of American music that originated in the African-American communities in the Deep South of the United States around the end of the 19th century. The style developed from the folk music and spirituals of enslaved African Americans.

The Mississippi Delta

The Mississippi Delta is widely considered the birthplace of the blues. This fertile region — containing parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee — was home to many African Americans who worked in the cotton fields. The area is also known for its Delta blues, a style of music that developed in the early 20th century.

The first recorded use of the term “Delta blues” was in an article by musicologist John W. Work III, published in 1936 in the Journal of American Folklore. Work was researching African American music in the Mississippi Delta and came across a number of performances by a singers and musicians who he described as playing “the Delta Blues.”

The Mississipi Delta has long been a place of immense cultural significance for African Americans. It is the site of many plantations where slaves were forced to work, and it was also a key area in the Civil Rights Movement. In recent years, theregion has become known for its vibrant music scene, with a number of popular blues and jazz festivals taking place each year.

The Piedmont

The Piedmont is an area located in the eastern United States, between the Atlantic Coastal Plain and the main Appalachian Mountains. The name comes from the French term “pied mont”, meaning “foot of the mountains”. The region generally includes Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

The Piedmont blues is a style of blues music that originated in the Piedmont region of the eastern United States. The style is characterized by its use of the guitar and harmonica, as well as its distinctive sound.

The Piedmont style is believed to have developed in the late 19th or early 20th century, and it became very popular in the 1920s and 1930s. The style was popularized by artists such as Blind Blake, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Reverend Gary Davis.

The Early Performers of Blues Music

The origins of the blues are not well-documented, and there is debate over where the style developed. However, it is generally accepted that the blues began in the American south sometime around the end of the 19th century. The earliest performers of the blues were mostly African American musicians who were playing for mostly African American audiences.

W.C. Handy

W.C. Handy is considered the “Father of the Blues.” He was one of the first to popularize this type of music and helped to make it famous around the world. Handy was born in 1873 in Mississippi and was a self-taught musician. He began his career playing in minstrel shows and then went on to play in vaudeville shows and on riverboats. He eventually settled in Memphis, Tennessee, where he opened a music publishing company. Handy wrote many famous blues songs, including “St. Louis Blues” and “Beale Street Blues.” He died in 1958 at the age of 84.

Ma Rainey

Ma Rainey, born Gertrude Pridgett, was one of the earliest known professional blues singers and one of the first generation of such singers to record. She was billed as The Mother of Blues. She began performing in vaudeville as a teenager and recorded her first track in 1923. By the end of the decade, she was a major recording artist.

Bessie Smith

Bessie Smith, Empress of the Blues, was one of the first and most influential Jazz and Blues singers of the 1920s and ’30s. She was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on April 15, 1894. Her parents were William and Laura Smith. Bessie had eight brothers and sisters but only three survived to adulthood: Laura, Viola, and Clarence (who began performing with Bessie in 1912).

While still a child, Bessie began earning money for her family singing on the streets of Chattanooga. As a teenager, she left home to perform in shows throughout the South with Ma Rainey’s travelling vaudeville troupe. It was during this time that Bessie began to develop her own style of singing which would later make her one of the most popular performers of her day.

Bessie made her first recordings in 1923 with Columbia Records. These recordings made her an instant star and helped to popularize blues music throughout the United States and Europe. During her career, she recorded over 160 songs and released over 60 records. Some of her most famous songs include “Downhearted Blues,” “T’Ain’t Nobody’s Biz-ness If I Do,” “St. Louis Blues,” and “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out.”

Bessie Smith died on September 26, 1937 in Clarksdale, Mississippi at the age of 43.

The Spread of Blues Music

The first recordings of what would become known as blues were made in the 1920s by black musicians living in the American South. The style developed from the work songs, spirituals, and folk music of African Americans.African American artists were influenced by the music of Europe and the Americas, and they created a new form of music that blended elements from both cultures.

The Great Migration

The Great Migration was the movement of six million African Americans out of the rural Southern United States to the urban Northeast, Midwest, and West from 1916 to 1970. Jacek Moscicki/NPR hide caption
toggle caption Jacek Moscicki/NPR

The Great Migration was the movement of six million African Americans out of the rural Southern United States to the urban Northeast, Midwest, and West from 1916 to 1970.

Jacek Moscicki/NPR

African Americans had been migrating north in smaller numbers since around 1910, but the pace increased during and after World War I. Economic opportunities were better in the North than in the rural South, where Jim Crow laws and racial violence made daily life difficult and dangerous.

The Great Migration changed the face of American cities, as well as American music. The blues, a style of music created by African Americans in the South, spread to other parts of the country as migrants took their music with them. The blues would go on to have a profound influence on jazz, rock ‘n’ roll, and other genres of music.

The Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance, which took place between 1918 and 1937, was an artistic movement that celebrated African American life and culture. One of the most important aspects of the Harlem Renaissance was the spread of blues music.

Blues is a genre of music that originated in the American South in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is rooted in African American spirituals, work songs, and field hollers. Blues music is characterized by its use of blue notes, which are notes that are played at a slightly lower pitch than other notes in a piece of music.

The first recorded blues song was “Mississippi Blues” by W.C. Handy, which was published in 1912. The first commercially successful blues song was “St. Louis Blues” by Bessie Smith, which was recorded in 1922. During the 1920s and 1930s, many other blues songs were recorded by artists such as Ma Rainey, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Bessie Smith. These recordings helped to spread the popularity of blues music beyond the American South and into other parts of the United States and Europe.

The Harlem Renaissance was a time when African Americans were asserting their cultural identity and celebrating their heritage. The spread of blues music was an important part of this movement because it allowed people to connect with their African roots through a type of music that was unique to America.

The Evolution of Blues Music

Blues music has been around for centuries and has constantly evolved to adapt to the changing times. The genre has been influenced by many different cultures and has produced some of the most iconic musicians in history. Let’s take a look at the history of blues music.

The Chicago Style

The Chicago style of blues is also known as the urban blues. It evolved from the Mississippi Delta style and was developed in the big cities on the West Coast, such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, as well as in Chicago. The main difference between the two styles is that the urban blues uses a band instead of just a solo artist.

The Chicago style of blues is characterized by a strong rhythm section, including a piano or guitar, and horns such as trumpets and saxophones. The vocals are also very important in this style of blues, and they are often call-and-response between the soloist and the rest of the band.

Some of the most famous Chicago blues artists include Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Willie Dixon, and Buddy Guy.

The British Invasion

In the 1960s, British rock bands such as the Rolling Stones, the Animals, and the Yardbirds began to score hits with blues-influenced material. At the same time, American blues artists such as Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf also enjoyed renewed popularity in their home country thanks to the British Invasion. The influence of British rock bands on American blues music continued throughout the 1960s and 1970s with groups like Led Zeppelin and Cream incorporating elements of the blues into their own distinctive sound.

The Legacy of Blues Music

The influence of blues music on other genres

Blues music has been a major influence on many other genres of music, including rock and roll, jazz, and country. The sound of the blues is often characterized by a throbbing bass, a twangy guitar, and rough vocals. The lyrics often deal with personal subjects such as love, heartbreak, and depression.

The roots of the blues can be traced back to the music of African Americans who were living in the American South in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The first recorded blues song was “Crazy Blues,” which was released in 1920 by Mamie Smith. Over the next few decades, the popularity of blues music spread throughout the United States and Europe.

Today, the blues is enjoyed by people of all ages and backgrounds. It has influenced a wide variety of other musical genres, including rock and roll, jazz, and country.

The enduring popularity of blues music

Though it originated more than a century ago, blues music is still going strong. In fact, it has only grown in popularity in recent years. There are now blues festivals held all over the world, and the genre has influenced many other popular musical styles, including rock and roll, jazz, and country music.

So who founded blues music? That’s a question that isn’t easy to answer. The genre developed slowly over time, with different artists adding their own unique spin to the sound. However, there are a few key figures who are generally credited with helping to shape the blues as we know it today.

One of the most important early blues musicians was W.C. Handy. A talented bandleader and composer, Handy was one of the first to write down blues songs in a form that could be read and played by other musicians. This helped to spread the popularity of the genre beyond its initial base in the American South.

Another important figure in early blues music was Ma Rainey. Rainey was one of the first professional female blues singers, and her recordings helped to bring the sound of the genre to a wider audience. She was also known for her flamboyant stage presence, which helped to make her one of the most popular entertainers of her day.

These are just two of the many important figures in blues history. As the popularity of the genre continues to grow, there will no doubt be many more names added to the list in years to come.