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John Mayall |
"In northern cities like Chicago and Detroit, during the later forties and early fifties, Muddy Waters, Willy Dixon, John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf, and Elmore James among others, played what was basically Mississippi Delta blues, backed by bass, drums, piano and occasionally harmonica, and began scoring national hits with blues songs. At about the same time, T-Bone Walker in Houston and B.B. King in Memphis were pioneering a style of guitar playing that combined jazz technique with the blues tonality and repertoire" (History of Rock.com).
During its development, blues music did not have a clearly defined structure. There were many tunes in 8 bar, 16 bar and even 9 bar. Some of the well known artists using these types of structure were Ray Charles and Howlin' Wolf. Over time, (1930s), twelve-bar blues had become the standard.
In the early 20th century, the blues was considered disreputable, especially as white audiences began listening to the blues during the 1920s. It was blamed for violence and bad behavior, being the "devil's music". At the beginning of the 1960s, various genres were influenced by this sound from ‘Rock and Roll’ to ‘Soul’. White performers began to bring blues music to a whole new audience, both in the US and abroad.
The UK, has become very well known for producing it’s ‘blues heroes’ and as such, played an influential role in the development of popular music of the 1960s. The myriad of British blues bands included Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Yardbirds, and Cream (The latter two featuring the ‘slowhand’ of Eric Clapton). In turn, the UK bands inspired America. Groups and artists such as Canned Heat, Janis Joplin, Johnny Winter, Ry Cooder and, of course, Jimi Hendrix emerged in the blues orientated field. Another style developed in America was ‘Texas Rock-Blues’. Influenced by the British rock-blues movement, it includes major artists like Stevie Ray Vaughan and The Fabulous Thunderbirds.
Blues has now become a major part of American cultural heritage and has seen the attention of everything from scholastic study to Hollywood movies.
Sources: Wikipedia, Media KnowAll: Popular Music, Piero Scaruffi: History of rock music, Encyclopedia Britannica 2002, BBC Online – Music.
Thanks for the images, go to: Robert Johnson: Deltahaze.com, RayCharles.com, JohnLeeHooker.com, Muddywalters.com, JohnMayall.com (Daniel E. Bauer), Eric Clapton & SR Vaughan:Wikipedia
The History of Popular Music Index 
