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.
Blues Festivals: Part 3
The last Blues Festival I atteded in St. Louis was a major disappointment, in my opinion. I thought is was poorly organized and poorly planned. To start, the main stage was set up in an vacant area across from the new football stadium. They were using the area for parking and there was a football game going on. The ball game lasted well past the time the festival was scheduled to start. People with paid tickets were required to stand around and wait for the people at the game to just sort of amble out and move their vehicles as they felt like it.
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”
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Early Blues Artist: Big Bill Broonzy Part 1
As a start if the discussion of the early bluesmen. we will start with Big Bill Broonzy. He was one of the early blues musicians that influenced the Chicago Blues soumd
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.
Country Blues History
The country blues is distinguished by the use of acoustic guitar. It might be fingerpicked or played in a bottleneck or slide style. Country blues artists were usually men.
The History of Blues Music: Part 2
The Blues sub-genre sometimes referred to as Country Blues was a reflection of the lives of the people in the rural South. The ex-slaves were no longer under the legal ownership of the rich farm owners but they were just as much under their control. Sharecroppers found it hard to break even and rarely made enough money to get ahead financially. The music they developed in the Mississippi Delta is often referred to as “Delta Blues.” Many people who were fortunate to have been trained on musical instruments found life to be better traveling from community to community performing songs that focused on a better life, sex, love, and life’s trials. Most of the early musicians were men.
Origins of the Delta Blues
The Delta blues is one of the earliest known blues style. As its name suggests, its origins can be traced back to the Mississippi Delta, a region in the United States that covers the areas from Memphis, Tennessee in the north to Vicksburg, Mississippi in the south and the Yazoo River in the east to the Mississippi River in the west. Back in the 19th to the early 20th century, black slavery was a widespread enterprise in developing nations. Needless to say, countless African Americans residing in this area were also exposed to extreme poverty and oppression.
My Personal History of the Blues: Part 2
Well, Leroy Pearson got my attention with Elmore James. I started to listen to his radio program every week. I made sure I was home and on time for the show. It was followed by a folk music show that played on Navy Pier in Chicago and I made sure I listened to both programs weekly but the blues show was what it was all about for me. I started to play blues on the guitar, buy blues records, and attend shows and festivals.
