The History Of The Blues

Jazz, rock music and country and western are just some of the styles that owe a lot of their progression from the original blues. The contribution of Blues music to the development of many other genres of music is very significant. Blues was originally grown out of the hardships endured by many generations of African Americans, and first arose from the rural Mississippi region, around about the time of the dawn of the 20th century. The style developed from work shouts (known as arhoolies), and became the vocal narrative style that we associate with blues music today.

The style of music known as the blues developed from work shouts (known as arhoolies), and became the vocal narrative style that we associate with blues music today. Jazz, rock music and country and western are just some of the styles that owe a lot of their progression from the original blues. The contribution of Blues music to the development of many other genres of music is very significant. Blues was originally grown out of the hardships endured by many generations of African Americans, and first arose from the rural Mississippi region, around about the time of the dawn of the 20th century.


Industry was progressing, and by the 1920s Blues music was also developing affecting the everyday lives of people involved. There was by this time a very particular style, based around a three-line stanza. The stanza contained just one line of verse, repeated, and then finished with a final line of rhyming verse.


The style also included a repeating blues chord progression, which was the basis of the harmony. The text was set to a 12-bar chorus, and typically was between four and eight stanzas in length. The usual rule of thumb was a 12-bar pattern utilizing the 3 major chords of a scale.

The melody is formed, typically, by flattened third, fifth and seventh notes of the major scale. This then forms the bent notes that give Blues music its distinctive sound enforcing the notes to have that bittersweet emotional impact that so many of us love. In the majority of Blues music, the vocals are the focus, which contradicts the fact that the performers will quite often improvise instrumental solos over the Blues chord progressions.


Country Blues
Country blues arose from the Southern rural experience, particularly influenced by the impact of emancipation, and are often referred to as Delta Blues (in tribute to the Mississippi Delta were they first originated. Many itinerant musicians (the majority of which were men), travelled from one community to the next, singing songs that focused on freedom, sex, love, and the general sorrows of life.


Classic Blues
African Americans began to migrate, mainly looking for work. Areas such as Memphis and New Orleans began to become more populated, and these people brought their own brand of music with them. As they settled in these areas, it led to Blues music becoming much more urban-orientated. The music evolved as their way of life evolved. Male or female vocalists began to appear more regularly, and there was now the addition of a single piano.


The popularity of this kind of music grew exponentially. The audience also grew, and Blues became more mainstream. Throughout the country as a whole, Blues music could now be heard in dancehalls and barrooms. The music industry as a whole started to take note, and more and more compositions and marketing arrangements emerged, as people began to take notice. In actual fact, what would become known as Classic Blues became so popular that many songs were released with the word blues in the title to capitalize on this, even though they bared little or no relation to the style of music.


Electric Blues
The center of the Blues music world which had always been clustered around Memphis and New Orleans began to shift. The appetite for Blues music grew and grew. Soon, cities such as Chicago were emerging as the central point for the music.


The end of the Second World War brought a new revival into the genre, and artists began to develop the music, primarily through adding a bit of extra emphasis on the bass drums and cranking up the guitar sounds. Artists like Elvis and Bill Haley began to incorporate the Blues methods into their own unique brand of rock n roll. By the 1950s this style was no longer centered around the African American community, and was universally practiced across all races.


The influence that Blues music has had on the music industry as a whole is undisputed, and yet Blues music is still evolving, still developing, and still evoking the stirrings of the soul to anyone who cares to listen! The incorporation of the Blues style into different genres still exists today, and Blues music in its own right continues to go from strength to strength many top selling artists maintain the original styles.