What is Blues Music?

The "blues" can mean many things all at once: a musical style, a particular scale, a crushing feeling of depression, among a barrage of others. It may not be very clear to you right now, but "the blues" is all of these, and much more.

A Brief History

Raw Sounds: The Mississippi Delta Blues

Blues music is believed to be a distinctly American style. It can be considered an offshoot of African music as it was in the late 19th century, but infused into the field hollers of black slaves constricted to agonizing loads of work in the plantations of the Mississippi Delta, the blues became a passionate anthem chronicling the sorrow, pain and struggles of the black slave. Hence, the blues has had a long history as a powerful tell-all vehicle of emotion, very evident in its lyrics, especially those of early Delta blues artists like Robert Johnson and Charley Patton. But was the blues really born in the Delta? Francis Davis, in his book The History of the Blues: the Roots, the Music, the People from Charley Patton to Robert Cray, challenges the common belief that the blues originated in the Delta. He argues that blues music was present in other black rural settlements well before the genre was discovered by the recording industry. Perhaps it was only the proximity of the Delta to Chicago, then the cultural and economic hub of America, in a time where transportation was hard to come by, that Delta artists became the first to make records.

Many credit William Christopher Handy (W.C. Handy) with writing the first blues song, Memphis Blues, in 1908. The song was a hit, and many attribute to its composer the beginning of the popular rise of the blues as a "commercial" art form, as well as exposing this genre to white audiences. The subsequent decades saw the rise of many prominent blues artists who have contributed invaluably to the development of this musical genre. In the the 1920's there were Mamie Smith and Bessie Smith, but swiftly, from the 30's to the 50's, the blues gained a large following in other regions of America.

Electrifying: Chicago Blues

Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Otis Rush, and Buddy Guy, among others, brought a "heavier" sound to the stage by introducing people to the blues through the electric guitar, with the embellishment of a wider array of big band instruments than earlier Delta blues used, including percussion like the drums and piano, bass, the traditional harmonica, and sometimes even brass section instruments. This was the vibrant Chicago Blues scene of the 1950's.

Makin' Waves

Eventually, traditional blues music gave rise to many variations, and even subgenres of blues. Texas blues, for one, came from African American slaves that rounded up the ranches and dug the oil fields of Texas. Among the greats are Lightnin' Hopkins, T-Bone Walker, and later on in the 1980's, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimmie Vaughan came up with their own brand of Texas blues which infuses heavy undertones of rock 'n' roll.

Detroit blues is another offshoot of the Delta blues, and as indicated by its name, came from African Americans in Detroit, Michigan. This style also employed electric amplification and a wider range of instruments. The most famous resident of this subgenre is the late John Lee Hooker.

The psychedelia of the 1960's saw the superstardom of artists heavily influenced by blues styles: The Yarbirds, Cream, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, Janis Joplin, and the Rolling Stones, among others. They continued to contribute to the insatiable popularity of the blues, developing even more variations and styles along the way. From this era to today, we have seen the phenomenal success of blues artists the world over and the huge following that this art form has gained through the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Freddy King, Albert King, Bonnie Raitt, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, among others.

The Blues Is All Around

Through time, blues has found its way into almost every genre of music there is, from jazz to gospel, RnB and pop, even rock and roll and hiphop. Blues may contribute its rhythm, its melodic patterns, its erratic scales, but most importantly, blues contributes its soulful art form of intense emotion and awakening, for without this driving passion, music is but a lifeless chant that cannot stir even a tear. Without this driving passion, blues is just not blues.

Form and Style

The blues is generally a freeform style that will not make much sense when explained in terms of traditional music theory. It is played using lots of diminished thirds, fifths and sevenths from the major scale, giving the music its characteristic "blues" sound. These notes will be discussed further in the section on Blues Scales.

Blues musicians rely heavily on improvisation. This is evident in the numerous instrumental sections in many blues pieces. A musician can go about improvising solos over blues progressions or multiple musicians can alternate every few bars or so. Instrumental fills are also commonly played at the end of a sung line.

More importantly, blues is a vocal musical form. Lyrics are personal and very emotional in nature, mostly tackling hardships from work, suffering, unrequited love, and the going away of a loved one, among others. It is often made up of verses and each verse often follows the three-phrase "call and response" pattern. Consider this stanza from W.C. Handy's St. Louis Blues:

I hate to see that evenin' sun go down
I hate to see that evenin' sun go down
'Cause, my baby, he gone and left this town

The first two lines are repetitive and serve as the "call". This repetition, sung in a similar tone and fashion, also gave blues vocalists more leeway during improvisation, before they come up with a third line that stands as the "response". Usually, the third line is completely different from the first two, and serves as a resolution to the preceding lines. This three-phrase verse is sung over 12 bars (or measures), which is one of the most common blues progressions.