Blues, spirituals, work songs

Blues family · late 19th c. → · Southern United States · Roots and blues

The common foundation. The blues emerges in the Deep South in the late 19th century from spirituals, work songs and field hollers. The "race records" market opens with Mamie Smith's Crazy Blues (Okeh, August 10, 1920).

What it gave rise to or influenced

• Classic blues (women singers)
• Boogie-woogie
• Ragtime
• New Orleans jazz
• Kansas City
• Hard bop
• Jump blues, R&B
• Gospel

Artists

• Bessie Smith (1892–1937, vocals)
• Muddy Waters (1913–1983, vocals, guitar, harmonica)
• Professor Longhair (1918–1980, piano, vocals)
• Lonnie Johnson (1899–1970, guitar, violin, vocals)
• Ma Rainey (1886–1939, vocals)
• Alberta Hunter (1895–1984, vocals)
• Ruthie Foster (1964, vocals, guitar)
• Mahalia Jackson (1911–1972, vocals)
• Thomas A. Dorsey (1899–1993, piano, vocals, composition)

Tracks to start with

• Crazy Blues — Mamie Smith (1920)
• Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground — Blind Willie Johnson (1927)
• Strange Things Happening Every Day — Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1944)
• Trouble Blues — Sam Cooke (1963)
• Tomorrow Night — Lonnie Johnson (1948)
• Mary's Goodbye Blues — Mary Osborne (1959)
• Phenomenal Woman — Ruthie Foster (2007)
• Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting — Charles Mingus (1959)
• My Home Is in the Delta — Muddy Waters (1963)
• Move On Up a Little Higher — Mahalia Jackson (1947)
• If You See My Saviour — Thomas A. Dorsey (1932)
• Deep River — Paul Lay (2020)

Sources

• EN : Blues

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