History of Detroit Blues
Like the Chicago blues, the Detroit blues emerged as the Great Migration era brought in by workers and musicians who are seeking greener pastures. However, this music style was often overshadowed by the more popular Motown genre and by the active blues scene in its neighbor town Chicago. While it is true that aspiring blues artists often head to Chicago and Memphis, Detroit was also able to attract its share of promising talents. One of the most notable musicians is John Lee Hooker. He was one of the African Americans aiming to seize better work opportunities in the northern cities. He first went to Memphis, and then arrived at Detroit in 1943 to find an assembly line job.
Highway 61: The Blues Highway
HIghway 61 is the longest road I know
It runs from Chicago to the Gulf of Mexico
Son Thomas, ” Highway 61 Blues”
Where does Blues Music come from?
Blues came out of the cotton fields of the antebellum plantations. The African-American slaves would pass the time in field chants. Sometimes these chants were also used to pass along information in a type of code that their overseers could not understand. One person would call or sing out a line and the others would sing or call it back. Then both would would call out a third different line that would serve to complete the verse. As far as can be told, this was the earliest used of the call and response style know as AAB. The first caller would call out a line(A). The line would be repeated or the “response” and and the all would conclude with the last line (B). The AAB sturcture is the basis of much of the early 23-bqr5 blues.
