Willie Dixon said, “Blues is the roots, and all the other music is the fruits.” The legacy of the Blues has penetrated all forms of modern music.
When Stevie-Ray Vaughan came along in the 80s, the Blues was suffering a period of respite, but his hard-rocking Texas Roadhouse style brought it to the fore again along with new names like Robert Cray and Albert Collins, and even John Lee Hooker had a worldwide hit album. When the dust settled, Blues and Blues-Rock had been established as a cornerstone of music, with records in the charts, specialist Blues labels and at least one club in every town. Buddy Guy was one of the second wave of West-side guitarists who came up at this time, and his work with Junior Wells began after the 'British Invasion' and lasted for decades. In 60s America, a new audience for the Blues meant that young men like Paul Butterfield, who learned his harp skills in South-side Chicago clubs where he was often the only white face, could sell millions of albums. Over the pond in Europe, post-WWII youth was beginning to appreciate the Blues, and BB King's soulful, sustained guitar notes fired some creative young imaginations. Professor Longhair's funky piano opened the way for Fats Domino and Little Richard to play what became known as Rock'n'Roll when it crossed over into the mainstream. The harp player in Muddy's band was Little Walter, and he carved a place of his own in Blues history with his dazzling harp lines, and when Rice 'Sonny Boy II' Miller came to town, he added a whole bag-full of juke-joint tricks to the harp repertoire.Ĭhicago was not the only place to hear the Blues: in Detroit John Lee Hooker's mesmerising one-chord boogies had people dancing, and in New Orleans their piano and sax driven music had a 'rhumba-boogie' beat. His biggest rival at Chess was Howlin' Wolf, whose voice could move mountains, and they competed to see who could get the next big song from writer, bass-player and producer Willie Dixon. When he plugged himself in, Electric Blues was born and his big selling records on the Chess label meant everyone quickly followed him. When Muddy Waters arrived in Chicago from the Delta in 1942, he realised the Blues would have to LOUD in the noisy city. He helped to develop the idea of a Blues Band, with guitar, piano and harp, and incorporated jazz-influenced complexity into the urban sound.
By the end of the decade, most of these important players had made records, and in the 30s Johnson himself revolutionised the Blues with his exuberant, polyrhythmic guitar style, and his songs provided a 'blueprint' for future generations.Īs African-Americans moved from rural poverty to the cities in the 'Great Migration' after WWI, Big Bill Broonzy was a central figure on the 30s Chicago scene. The greatest of these Divas was Bessie Smith, inspired by her mentor Ma Rainey, and she was a rôle model for many female Blues stars to follow.īack in the Delta, Charley Patton was setting an example himself, inspiring other Bluesmen like Son House, Robert Johnson, Howlin'Wolf and many more. In 1920, the first Blues song was recorded by Mamie Smith, and when 'Crazy Blues' sold close to a million copies all the record companies looked for their own Blues Diva.
Its influence was spread across the Southern States by travelling shows and 'wandering songsters' like Lead Belly and Blind Lemon Jefferson, who sang Blues songs along with folk ballads, spirituals and Ragtime ditties, and both used Blues forms in their own compositions in their later recording careers. 'The Blues' originated as a style of local folk music from around the Mississippi Delta as the 20 th Century began.