Blues music can certainly be traced all the way back to the nineteenth century. Probably the most early type of original blues music is derived directly from the technique called the "country blues" dating back to roughly the 20's. Finding the earliest sources of blues music is something a good number of historians have devoted a whole lot of their time and cash hoping to uncover the origin of the source (many even journeying to places within west Africa so as to discover whether or not it was taken from from conventional African music). Despite the fact that there may appear to be some similarities, blues music carries a special and exclusive tone that started with the African Americans from the south.
The exact definition of "blues" inside the dictionary implies "1. depression 2. melancholy kind of jazz". Musicians are used to associating the blues with the standard together with well known 12 bar blues. This particular type of chord progression uses three chords that may be played out inside any key. In addition to the heavy verse which most commonly goes with the chords, blues music conveys and also creates a distinctive feeling of emotions in many of its audience and devotees.
A number of well known, early blues artists that helped form the actual blues music we know these days were Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Huddie Leadbetter, Willie Brown, Son House and Tommy Johnson. A good number of blues artists were born in the Mississippi delta, with the exception of some including Blind Lemon Jefferson (who was from Texas) and Huddie Leadbetter (who was from Louisiana).
The 2 early on varieties associated with blues music were 1. classic blues (made up of largely women vocalists) plus 2. the country blues (consisting of mainly male vocalists). Every type of blues offered specific variances in style and tone. Classic blues singers had a somewhat strict adherence for the 12 bar blues as the country blues vocalists strayed somewhat from the standard twelve bar blues form. Additionally, classic blues singers preferred to get a band to accompany with them whereas a country blues musician may normally want to include simply his guitar as well as voice to produce music.
Where blues music truly started to take off seemed to be during the 1920's, once one company took their audio gross sales to a whole new level. A lady singer by the name of Mamie Smith, part of the classic blues style, really helped to start the blues through selling above 1 million versions of her tunes within just twelve months. Figuring that all of the records were below a dollar (cheap by today standard but back then it was quite a lot for this type of music) that could have added up to a good deal of cash for a new to the scene industry.
Blues music is a really exclusive part of our historical background that is distinctively American. Not many styles of music fire up profound emotion and move us the way that the blues really does.
Author Resource:
Henry is the lead expert of blues music history and has researched this subject extensively. His background is in both country blues and classic blues .