The History of the Blues
Performance Class Notes
A BLUES TIMELINE
1. From Africa to the New World
From the 17th century, men, women and children were taken
as slaves from their African homes to the Americas. But no one could take
away their music.
Blues Legends: Papa Charlie Jackson
Classic Songs: Salty Dog ~ Airy Man Blues ~ All
I Want Is A Spoonful ~ Shake That Thing
2. The Roots of African-American
Music
The blues is conceived in the rural South where slaves
lavour on the plantations.
Blues Legends: Lead Belly (Huddy Ledbetter)
Classic Songs: C.C. Rider ~ Rock Island Line
~ Goodnight Irene ~ Swing Low Sweet Chariot ~ John Henry
3. Ragtime, Jazz, and The Birth
of the Blues
Two distinctive styles of black music surface in the
United States, notably New Orleans, and the blues is born.
Blues Legends: Charley Patton ~ Scott Joplin ~
Buddy Bolden ~ King Oliver ~ Louis Armstrong ~ W.C. Handy ~ Jellyroll Morton
Classic Songs: Maple Leaf Rag ~ The Entertainer
~ Make Me A Pallet On The Floor ~ St. Louis Blues ~ Pony Blues ~ High Water
Everywhere ~ A Spoonful Blues
4. The Blues . . . When They
Were A Girl Thing
The early years of the blues are dominated by women --
"Classic blues singers," who are legendary figures.First Blues Record:
August 10, 1920 The Jazz Hounds recorded Crazy Blues with vocal
by Mamie Smith released on OKeh label ~ The beginning of the "Race Records"
genre. Records and recordings offer millions of black people a slice of
their own culture.
Blues Legends: Bessie Smith ~ Ma Rainey ~ Ethel
Waters ~ Trixie Smith ~ Ida Cox ~ Alberta Hunter ~ Memphis Minnie
Classic Songs: Nobody Knows You When You're Down
and Out ~ Down Home Blues ~ Freight Train Blues ~ T'aint Nobody's Business
If I do ~ Backwater Blues ~ Down Hearted Blues ~ Bo-Weavil Blues ~ Sloppy
Drunk Blues ~ Mississippi Delta Blues ~ Trouble in Mind
5. Goin' To The Country
From 1927, record companies go in search of new talent
and make "field trips" to the Southern states.
Blues Legends: Blind Lemon Jefferson ~ Blind Blake
~ Blind Willie McTell ~ Lonnie Johnson ~ Mississippi John Hurt ~ T-Bone
Walker ~ Charlie Christian
Classic Songs: Statesboro Blues ~ Stack O'Lee
Blues ~ Canned Heat Blues ~ Guitar Blues ~ Bottleneck Blues ~ Matchbox
Blues ~ Black Snake Moan ~ West Coast Blues ~ Broke Down Engine Blues
6. Memphis, Jug Bands, and The
Delta
The blues moves from the Mississippi to the cities.
Blues Legends: Memphis Jug Band ~ Sleepy John
Estes ~ Son House ~ Sonny Boy Williamson ~ Furry Lewis
Classic Songs: Roll & Tumble Blues ~
Drop Down Mama ~ Airplane Blues ~ Walk Right In ~ Black Mama ~ Dry
Spell Blues ~ Preachin' the Blues ~ Rolling Stone
7. The Depression, No Depression,
and Some Boogie Woogie, Too
Depression hits and the US recording industry suffers
in its wake. As the 1930s progress, the blues emanates from the cities,
and country music begins to show its roots.
Blues Legends: Tampa Red ~ Leroy Carr ~ Big Bill
Broonzy ~ Pinetop Smith ~ Fats Waller ~ Governor Jimmie Davis ~ Jimmie
Rodgers ~ The Carter Family ~ Bob Wills ~ Emmett Miller ~ Hank Williams
Classic Songs: How Long, How Long Blues
~ It's Tight Like That ~ The Duck's Yas-Yas-Yas ~ It Hurts Me Too ~ Let
Me Play With Your Poodle ~ Blues Before Sunrise ~ Mean Mistreater Mama
~ You Are My Sunshine ~ Hill Billie Blues ~ Columbus Stockade Blues ~ Mule
Skinner Blues ~ Corrine Corrina ~ Lovesick Blues ~ Pinetop's Boogie Woogie
~ Ain't Misbehavin'
8. At the Crossroads . . . God
and the Devil
The Delta makes its last great statement of intent as
the cradle of the blues. Fascinating myths and legends pervade the music,
giving it a special quality.
Blues Legends: Robert Johnson ~ Peetie Wheatstraw
~ Memphis Minnie ~ Joe Williams ~ Josh White ~ Sonny Terry & Brownie
McGhee ~ Blind Boy Fuller ~ Bukka White ~ Bo Carter ~ Blind Willie Johnson
~ Thomas A. Dorsey ~ Sister Rosetta Tharpe ~ Les Paul
Classic Songs: Baby Please Don't Go ~ My Pencil
Don't Write No More ~ Banana In Your Fruit Basket ~ Please Warm My Weiner
~ I Believe I'll Dust My Broom ~ Sweet Home Chicago ~ Terraplane Blues
~ Cross Road Blues
9. Big Bands, Strikes and Mr.
Hitler (Wartime Blues)
The effects of World War II are felt throughout the US,
and the blues takes a rest.
Blues Legends: T-Bone Walker ~ Billie Holiday
~ The Delta Rhythm Boys ~ Glenn Miller et al
Classic Songs: Good Morning Schoolgirl ~ Call
It Stormy Monday ~ In The Mood
10. Let the Good Times Roll!
Postwar US takes heart and the blues takes on a new,
more vibrant feeling.
Blues Legends: Louis Jordan ~ Wynonie Harris ~
Joe Turner ~ James Cotton ~ Sonny Boy Williamson ~ John Lee Hooker ~
~ Ella Fitzgerald ~ Nat King Cole ~ Roy Brown ~ Clarence "Gatemouth"
Brown ~ Memphis Slim ~ Muddy Waters ~ The Honeydrippers ~ Arthur "Big Boy"
Crudup
Classic Songs: That's All Right ~ Good
Rockin' Tonight ~ Flip Flop and Fly ~ Shake Rattle and Roll
~ Caldonia ~ Let the Good Times Roll ~ Got My Mojo Working ~ Route
66 ~ Straighen Up and Fly Right ~ Eyesight to the Blind ~ Boom Boom
~ Hoochie Coochie Man
11. The Fabulous Fifties
Chicago dominates the sound of the blues, and a new breed
of blues musicians move from their Southern homes. Britain discovers the
blues through skiffle. Blues gives birth to Rock 'n' Roll.
Blues Legends: Etta James ~ Howlin' Wolf ~ Bo
Diddley ~ Chuck Berry ~ Willie Dixon ~ Jimmy Reed ~ Lightnin' Hopkins ~
Lonnie Donegan ~ Elvis ~ Muddy Waters ~ Little Walter ~ Sun Records Artists
~ BB King ~ Fats Domino ~ Slim Harpo ~ Ray Charles ~ Little Richard ~ Lonnie
Mack
Classic Songs: Boogie Chillen ~ Mystery Train
~ Boogie Chillen ~ At Last ~ Spoonful ~ Little Red Rooster ~ Killing Floor
~ Hey Bo Diddley ~ I'm A Man ~ Johnny B. Goode ~ Sweet Little Sixteen ~
Backdoor Man ~ Bring It On Home ~ Big Boss Man ~ Baby What You Want
Me To Do ~ Mojo Hand ~ I'm A King Bee ~ What'd I Say
12. By the Time We Got to
Woodstock
The Sixties are a time of great social change. While
the blues inspires many young white musicians, black American blues is
at a crossroads. Britain becomes the catalyst for musical change, and the
blues is a newfound inspiration. Rebirth of the blues legends.
Blues Legends: Big Bill Broonzy ~ Elmore James
~ Mississippi John Hurt ~ Albert King ~ Albert Collins ~ Otis Rush ~ Beatles,
Stones, Animals, Yardbirds, et al ~ Long John Baldry ~ John Mayall ~ Bob
Dylan ~ John Hammond, Jr. ~ Mike Bloomfield ~ Jimi Hendrix ~ Janis
Joplin ~ Grateful Dead
Classic Songs: (I Believe I'll) Dust My Broom
~ The Sky is Crying ~ Shake Your Moneymaker ~ Key to the Highway ~ Southbound
Train ~ Born Under A Bad Sign ~ Freeze ~ Double Trouble ~ Wang Dang
Doodle
13. Long Live the Blues . . .
and Rock 'n' Roll Too
The blues is everywhere -- even though it has been diluted
in a modern melee of musical styles -- and it's here to stay!
Blues Legends: B.B. King ~ Buddy Guy ~ Eric Clapton
~ Bonnie Raitt ~ Taj Mahal ~ Allman Brothers ~ Johnny Winter ~ ZZ
Top ~ Stevie Ray Vaughn ~ J. Geils Band ~ Rory Gallagher ~ Layla ~ Santana
~ Led Zeppelin ~ Ike and Tina Turner
Classic Songs: The Thrill is Gone ~ Three O'Clock
Blues ~ Stone Crazy . . .
~ Bill Hillman
Adapted from Bill Wyman's Blues Odyssey ~ NY: DK Publishing
~ 2001
HOW TO SING THE BLUES
(Humor ~ Ice Breaker)
1. Most Blues begin, "Woke up this morning."
2. " I got a good woman" is a bad way to begin the
Blues, 'less you stick something nasty in the next line, like " I got a
good woman, with the meanest face in town."
3. The Blues is simple. After you get the first two lines
right, repeat them. Then find something that rhymes ... sort of: "Got a
good woman - with the meanest face in town. Got teeth like Margaret Thatcher
- and she weigh 500 pound."
4. The Blues are not about choice. You stuck in
a ditch, you stuck in a ditch; ain't no way out.
5. Blues cars: Chevys and Cadillacs and broke-down trucks.
Blues don't travel in Volvos, BMWs, or Sport Utility Vehicles. Most Blues
transportation is a Greyhound bus or a southbound train. Jet aircraft,
skidoos, an' state-sponsored motor pools ain't even in the running. Walkin'
plays a major part in the blues lifestyle. So does fixin' to die.
6. Teenagers can't sing the Blues. They ain't fixin' to
die yet. Adults sing the Blues. In Blues, "adulthood" means being old enough
to get the electric chair if you shoot a man in Memphis. That's the cut-off.
7. Blues can take place in New York City but not in Hawaii
or any place in Canada. Hard times in St. Paul or Tucson or San Diego is
just depression. Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City still the best places
to have the Blues. You cannot have the blues in any place that don't
get no rain.
8. A man with male pattern baldness ain't the blues. A
woman with male pattern baldness is. Breaking your leg cuz you're skiing
is not the blues. Breaking your leg cuz an alligator is chomping on it
is. Losing your leg to necritizing fasciitis is not the blues. Losing your
leg to a shot-gunblast from yo' woman is.
9. You can't have no Blues in an office or a shopping
mall. The lighting is wrong. Go outside to the parking lot or sit by the
dumpster. Go down to the Greyhound bus-station.
10. Good places for the Blues: a. highway b. jailhouse
c. empty bed d. bottom of a whiskey glass
Bad places: a. Ashrams b. gallery
openings c. Ivy League institutions d. golf courses e. Hooters
11. No one will believe it's the Blues if you wear a suit,
'less you slept in it. If you wore a backwards baseball cap, even one time,
you're disqualified for life.
12. Do you have the right to sing the Blues? Yes, if:
a. you're older than dirt b. you're blind c. you shot a man
in Memphis d. you can't be satisfied
No, if: a. you have all
your teeth b. you were once blind but now can see c. the man in Memphis
lived.
d. you have a retirement plan or trust fund.
e. you use a blow-drier
13. Blues is not a matter of color. It's a matter of bad
luck. Tiger Woods cannot sing the blues. Gary Coleman could. Ugly white
people also got a leg up on the blues.
14. If you ask for water and Baby give you gasoline, it's
the Blues. Other acceptable Blues beverages are:
a. wine b. whiskey or bourbon c. muddy
water d. black, black coffee (NO cappuccinos)
The following are NOT Blues beverages:
a. mixed drinks b. kosher wine c. Snapple d. sparkling
water e. Gatorade
15. If it occurs in a cheap motel or a shotgun shack,
it's a Blues death. Stabbed in the back by a jealous lover is another Blues
way to die. So is the electric chair, substance abuse, and dying lonely
on a broken-down cot. You can't have a Blues death if you die during
a tennis match or getting liposuction or listening to Shania Twain.
16. Some Blues names for women: a. Sadie b.
Big Mama c. Bessie d. Fat River Dumpling
17. Some Blues names for men: a. Joe b. Willie
c. Little Willie d. Big Willie
18. Persons with names like Sierra, Sequoia, Auburn, Rainbow,
Skip, Jennifer, Jason, Murray, Bosley, Shania, Madonna, Cher, or
Engelbert can't sing the Blues no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis.
19. Make your own Blues name (starter kit): a. name
of a physical infirmity (Blind, Cripple, Lame, etc.) b. first name
(see a above) plus name of fruit (Lemon, Lime, etc.) c. add last
name of President (Jefferson, Johnson, Fillmore, etc.) For example,
Blind Lime Jefferson, or Cripple Kiwi Fillmore, etc. (Well, maybe
not "Kiwi.")
20. I don't care how tragic your life is: you own a computer,
you cannot sing the blues. You best destroy it. Fire, a bottle of Mad Dog
spilled on the keyboard, or get out a shotgun. Maybe your big woman just
done sat on it. I don't care. Get rid of it. And don't ever sing about
it.
Hillman History of the Blues Performance Lecture
For the Brandon University School of Music
~ 2006