Source+Ten

[]


 * The Blues: Revolution of Music**

1. Blues music is perhaps the most misunderstood and often misjudged music in all of American history.

2. It's imperative that people understand where Blues music has its roots and how, through its natural progressive nature, it has ties to almost every conceivable form of modern music.


 * The Beginning:**

3. This genre of music came from the souls of slaves and emerged simultaneously throughout the South, originating as early as 1890.

4. In 1840, the first successive wave of acceptance of black music took over by white performers who called themselves "nigger mistrals".

5. Blues came from the soul, however, which meant that it was virtually impossible to stop.

6. All across the country, various forms of the genre were being created and popularized by emotional lyrics, powerful music and a sense of pride and communication that echoed throughout the music.

7. Blues was essentially about two things; the lyrics and the instrumentation.

8. Guitars weren't a part of the blues until the 1920's when it replaced the banjo.

9. The history of drums present in African music can be traced back centuries, but the modern drum set was introduced to the blues right after World War II.

10. The harmonica was a key aspect of the blues, found in even it's most primitive forms - although the piano is the first musical instrument heard on a blues record.


 * Different Styles:**

11. Jump blues grew out of the boogie woogie piano craze of the 1940's It had a quick beat, a jazz influence, a horn section and a lead vocalist, some of which include Louis Jordan, Big Joe Turner an Johnny Otis.

12. Country blues describes all various forms of acoustic blues.

13. [Country Blues] covers all the regional styles of blues which I will later address in fuller detail. Two very famous musicians came from these origins; Skip James and the often covered Leadbelly.

14. Piano blues has been a part of the blues scone the turn of the century, long before blues was ever recorded. It includes ragtime, boogie woogie, second line, barrel house blues, "supper club" blues and the Chicago style blues.

15. Otis Spann and Sunnyland Slim were some of its most infamous performers (of piano blues).

16. During the 1950's and 1960's, our neighbors across the ocean took notice of this amazing art form and soon began replicating American blues, working mostly off of electric Chicago Blues artists and acoustic folk blues musicians.

17. [16] They performed their music with great respect for these originators, almost bordering on elevating them to sainthood. Eric Clapton, The Yardbirds and the early recordings of the Rolling Stones are the most famous examples.

18. Modern electric blues is what most of us hear these days. It copies older styles of blues playing, mostly from the 1950's and 1960's and mix it with contemporary influences. (Bonnie Riatt, Stevie Ray, etc)


 * Blues & Other Genres:**

19. Lonnie Brooks says, "Rock 'n' Roll is nothing but the blues speeded up."

20. Gospel gave a lot of it's vocalizing techniques to the blues and visa versa.

21. Boogie Woogie is otherwise known as Rhythm & Blues and it's basically just jump blues with big voiced vocalists influenced by gospel singers

22. Even country music has its roots in blues with its traditional blues lyrics and musical structures. Both genres are very emotional and very honest displays of art.

23. Cub Koda notes, "As country music gains a larger mainstream audience and the median age of country music buyers drops, modern country is beginning to sound more like rock 'n' roll, which makes its connection to the blues even stronger".


 * Owing Blues:**

24. From the basis of pain and suffering has come a source of expression that affects us all because of its raw, truthful energy that is extremely adaptable.

25. No matter what you go through in life or where you've been, there is a song that has its roots in blues that can ease the feelings and thoughts going through your mind and soul.

26. The music has roots deep in American history and will continue to leave its legacy through the many lives it will inevitably touch.

27. Thank those who took part in the revolution of music - and, without even meaning to, the revolution of the human spirit.