20th century Blues music originated in the 19th century American south. African-american slaves forced to work from sunup to sundown sang a rhythmic "call and response" to ease their brutal labor and to communicate without the masters knowledge. Known as field hollers," a respected worker would shout a solo line, then the rest would repeat a unison line, all while being in rhythm with the work at hand. This evolved to the solo singer also repeating the unison line and adapting the holler for solo performance. These solo musicians took the blues into the 20th century in a style known as "Country Blues". Charley Patton, Leadbelly, Son House, Skip James, and Robert Johnson were the pioneers of the style.
The term "Blues" comes from the way Blues singers and instrumentalist bend notes. These were called "blue notes" because they were tonally in-between two standard notes. Blue notes opened up a whole world of expression as they blur the line between major and minor scales.
The Growth:
Blues music was first recorded by Thomas Edison in 1895 with pianist George W. Johnson's "The Laughing Song". W.C. Handy, known as the father of the Blues, first transcribed Blues music in
Memphis just after the turn of the century. Mamie Smith's 1920 recording of "Crazy Blues" became the first commercially
popular Blues record. This spawned the "race record" industry that catered exclusively to african-american audiences. Artists
such as Bessie
Smith, Memphis Minnie , Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Gertrude "Ma" Rainey sold as many records as many of today's top artists.
The biggest influence on Blues music in the 20th century was the migration of african-americans from the rural South to urban centers like Memphis, Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, and Kansas City in the 1920's, '30's, and '40's. Bringing the groove north with them, they adapted the music to the changing conditions and created a harder urban sound that began to incorporate electricly amplified instruments. Artists like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker , Willie Dixon, and Magic Sam cranked up the volume and created the template for Rock & Roll.
Another big influence on the Blues was the radio show King Biscuit Time on KFFA in Helena, Arkansas. First broadcast on November 21, 1941, King Biscuit Time featured legendary Blues artists Sonny Boy Williamson and Robert Jr. Lockwood playing live in the studio. The show was named after the locally distributed King Biscuit Flour and is still broadcast today. With massive transmitting power the show could be heard across the South and became a daily Blues staple for millions.
The Re-birth:
Blues music reached it's commercial apex in the post-WWII years as classic recordings continued until the mid-1950's.
With the appearance of Rock & Roll, many african-american artists fell from the public's grace as white artists cashed in on
the same grooves. Many artists were forced out of the business only to be re-discovered in the early 1960's by a Folk music
revival centered in New York City. Mississippi John Hurt , Brownie McGhee, and Sonny
Terry re-energized the Blues and set in motion a 20 year revival of the groove. By the late 1960's Blues had been
embraced by white audiences and was starting to be re-created by white artists like
Roy Buchanan, Paul Butterfield, The
Allman Brothers Band, Peter Green, and Eric Clapton . It is durung the '60's that the most popular artist in the
Blues, B.B. King, made his mark on the music. He has become the ambassador for all American
music around the world.
