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As their lives and surroundings changed, so did their blues. This journey has made the landscape of the blues as diverse as our country’s rivers, prairies and mountains. So here we take a look at some of the major regional styles and the artists and songs that helped define and illustrate them.
Find Regional Blues Albums, Artists and Songs, and Hand-Picked Top Regional Blues Music on AllMusic.
- Singing The Blues
- The Blues Revival
- Taking It to The Festival Stage
- References
The country blues is the music of day to day life. It is the lonely music of lounging on the front porch, the rowdy music of the house party, and the raucous and engaging music of the concert stage. The lyrics deal with the African American experience and the hardships of work, life, and love in the American South, and themes of travel, loneliness,...
Early blues music recorded by artists such as Charlie Patton, Leroy Carr, and Blind Lemon Jefferson achieved wide popularity in African-American communities of the southern USA in the 1920s and 1930s. However, recordings of this early music are scarce and by the early 1950s the music had all but faded from popular memory until revival efforts of co...
The folk and blues revival enabled country blues musicians such as Lightnin' Hopkins, John Jackson, Furry Lewis, Sam Chatmon, Brownie McGhee, Sonny Terry and others to ascend blues festival stages to wide acclaim across the USA and internationally. The Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall hosted many country blues musicians throughout...
Charters, Samuel. The Country Blues. New York: Da Capo Press, 1975. Pearson, Barry Lee. Liner notes to Classic Blues from Smithsonian Folkways (SFW40134) and Classic Blues from Smithsonian Folkways, vol. 2(SFW40148).
One of the most influential styles of American music, the Blues is a living tradition with multiple regional styles. Have a listen with the Sounds of the American Blues and The Roots of Rhythm & Blues playlists from Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, and explore our blues-related collection items.
There are thriving blues scenes and sounds all over the United States – St Louis, Southern and Northern California, New York and Minnesota have all turned out innovators and virtuosos, each holding on to regional sounds of the area.
Mississippi Delta blues, regional style of early 20th-century American folk music, centred in the Delta region of northwestern Mississippi. The pioneers of the style played a key role in developing the market for traditional blues recordings in the 1920s and ’30s, while the subsequent generation of Delta-born guitarists contributed to the ...
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Delta blues is one of the earliest-known styles of blues. It originated in the Mississippi Delta and is regarded as a regional variant of country blues. Guitar and harmonica are its dominant instruments; slide guitar is a hallmark of the style. Vocal styles in Delta blues range from introspective and soulful to passionate and fiery.
