The Blues

1
The Blues

• 23 Things You Must Know

2
Call and Response

• A musical term referring to the alternation
  between two musical voices in a work,
  particularly that between a solo singer (the
  "call") and a group chorus (the "response"). In
  the blues, the call and response structure may
  have derived in part from work and gospel songs,
  and is particularly prominent in Delta blues and
  styles arising from it, in which the solo
  performer often uses his guitar to respond to,
  and sometimes even complete, his vocal line.

3
Improvisation

• Musically, the act of composing, performing, or
  otherwise playing without prior planning or
  consulting specific notation such as sheet music.
  In jazz and blues, for example, familiar forms
  may be utilized throughout a song, but the singer
  may alter the lyrics to better suit their mood,
  and the instrumentalists may take solos of a
  length and direction that is entirely determined
  by them.

4
Work Songs

• A probable root of the blues, work songs were
  extensively documented by folklorists during the
  early portions of the 20th century, although
  their roots arguably go as far back as West
  Africa. Work songs help synchronize the rhythm of
  group tasks, with a single leader calling out a
  line that is then copied or responded to by the
  group (see "call and response"), typically in
  time with their work motion (e.g., chopping with
  an axe or digging with a shovel).

5
Field Hollers

• Field hollers are a class of rural African
  American vocal performance performed by an
  individual (as opposed to a group) while engaged
  in manual labor, and unaccompanied by any
  instrument. Folklorists documenting the music in
  the early portions of the 20th century first used
  the term, although field hollers were in
  existence before that time. Field hollers are
  generally slower and much less rigid in musical
  form than group work songs, combine lyrical
  phrases common to the community with individual
  interpretations and improvisations, and are most
  often lamenting or sorrowful in subject matter.
  Because they established and expanded a musical
  tradition of individual expression and common
  lyrical phrases, field hollers are considered an
  important antecedent of the blues form.

6
Sharecropping

• An agricultural system particularly common in the
  post-Civil War South, where a tenant worked a
  piece of land in exchange for a portion of the
  year's crop or revenue. For their work on the
  land, the tenants were supplied living
  accommodations, seeds, tools, and other
  necessities by the landowner, who was invariably
  the bookkeeper and proprietor of the local
  commissary as well. While theoretically offering
  a degree of independence to sharecroppers, the
  system was invariably harrowing, with hard work
  and poor living conditions the norm. In addition,
  it was nearly impossible to work one's way out of
  the system, as tenants, both white and black,
  invariably found themselves with little to no
  money left after the balancing of year-end
  accounts, if not actually in debt to the
  landowner. Although the norm for half a century,
  the sharecropping system met a quick end in 1941,
  when the first successful mechanical planting and
  harvesting of a cotton crop indicated that human
  labor was no longer as necessary.

7
Country Blues

• is a catchall term that delineates the depth and
  breadth of the first flowering of guitar-driven
  blues, embracing solo, duo, and string band
  performers. The term also provides a convenient
  general heading for all the multiple regional
  styles and variations (Piedmont, Atlanta,
  Memphis, Texas, acoustic Chicago, Delta, ragtime,
  folk, songster, etc.) of the form. It is
  primarilybut not exclusivelya genre filled with
  acoustic guitarists, embracing a multiplicity of
  techniques from elaborate fingerpicking to the
  early roots of slide playing. But some
  country-blues performers like Lightnin' Hopkins
  and John Lee Hooker later switched over to
  electric guitars without having to drastically
  change or alter their styles.(Erlewine, et al.,
  eds. All Music Guide to the Blues. 2nd ed. San
  Francisco Backbeat Books, 1999.)

8
Delta Blues

• The Delta blues style comes from a region in the
  southern part of Mississippi, a place
  romantically referred to as "the land where the
  blues was born." In its earliest form, the style
  became the first black guitar-dominated music to
  make it onto phonograph records back in the late
  1920s. Although many original Delta blues
  performers worked in a string-band context for
  live appearances, very few of them recorded in
  this manner. Consequently, the recordings from
  the late 1920s through mid-1930s consist
  primarily of performers working in a solo,
  self-accompanied context. The form is dominated
  by fiery slide guitar and passionate vocalizing,
  with the deepest of feelings being applied
  directly to the music. Its lyrics are passionate
  as well, and in some instances remain the highest
  flowering of blues songwriting as stark poetry.
  The form continues to the present time with new
  performers working in the older solo artist
  traditions and style.(Erlewine, et al., eds. All
  Music Guide to the Blues. 2nd ed. San Francisco
  Backbeat Books, 1999.)

9
Juke Joint

• An informal type of drinking establishment that
  arose along the rural back roads of the South
  among and to serve the regional African American
  population (as opposed to "honky tonks," similar
  establishments that served the white population).
  The term "juke" has its likely origins in West
  Africa, where similar terms mean "wicked." Juke
  joints are thus understood to be potentially
  rough and rowdy, with drinking, eating, live
  music, and occasionally gambling, and were (and
  continue to be) key incubators of the blues, even
  if now more frequently heard on a "jukebox" than
  from a live performer.

10
Piedmont Blues

• Piedmont Blues refers to a regional substyle
  characteristic of black musicians of the
  southeastern United States. Geographically, the
  Piedmont means the foothills of the Appalachians
  west of the tidewater region and Atlantic coastal
  plain stretching roughly from Richmond, VA, to
  Atlanta, GA. Musically, Piedmont blues describes
  the shared style of musicians from Georgia, the
  Carolinas, and Virginia, as well as others from
  as far as Florida, West Virginia, Maryland, and
  Delaware. It refers to a wide assortment of
  aesthetic values, performance techniques, and
  shared repertoire rooted in common geographical,
  historical, and sociological circumstances to
  put it more simply, Piedmont blues means a
  constellation of musical preferences typical of
  the Piedmont region. The Piedmont guitar style
  employs a complex fingerpicking method in which a
  regular, alternating-thumb bass pattern supports
  a melody on treble strings. The guitar style is
  highly syncopated and connects closely with an
  earlier string-band tradition, integrating
  ragtime, blues, and country dance songs. It's
  excellent party music with a full, rock-solid
  sound.(Erlewine, et al., eds. All Music Guide to
  the Blues. 2nd ed. San Francisco Backbeat Books,
  1999.)

11
Memphis Blues

• A strain of country blues all its own, Memphis
  blues gives the rise of two distinct forms the
  jug band (playing and singing a humorous,
  jazz-style of blues played on homemade
  instruments) and the beginnings of assigning
  parts to guitarists for solo (lead) and rhythm, a
  tradition that is now part and parcel of all
  modern day blues-and rock 'n' roll-bands. The
  earliest version of the genre was heavily tied to
  the local medicine show and vaudeville
  traditions, lasting well into the late 1930s. The
  later, post-World War II version of this genre
  featured explosive, distorted electric-guitar
  work, thunderous drumming, and fierce,
  declamatory vocals.(Erlewine, et al., eds. All
  Music Guide to the Blues. 2nd ed. San Francisco
  Backbeat Books, 1999.)

12
Beale Street

• "I didn't think of Memphis as Memphis. I thought
  of Beale Street as Memphis."BB KingLocated in
  Memphis, Tennessee, Beale Street was the central
  street in what was considered by many in the
  early 20th century to be the capital of black
  America. The Beale Street district, despite being
  the product of a strictly segregated city, was at
  the time a self-sustaining neighborhood that
  offered African Americans a comparative degree of
  freedom rarely found elsewhere. Beale Street's
  wide-open atmosphere and the crowds it generated
  attracted droves of musicians from throughout the
  region, making it synonymous with the blues.
  Reform in the 1940s and urban renewal in the late
  1960s slowed the Beale Street neighborhood
  however, it has recently begun a successful
  revival as a tourist-oriented entertainment
  district.

13
New Orleans Blues

• Primarily (but not exclusively) piano and
  horn-driven, New Orleans blues is enlivened by
  Caribbean rhythms, an unrelenting party
  atmosphere, and the "second-line" strut of the
  Dixieland music so indigenous to the area.
  There's a cheerful, friendly element to the style
  that infuses the music with a good-time feel, no
  matter how somber the lyrical text. The music
  itself uses a distinctively "lazy" feel, with all
  of its somewhat complex rhythms falling just a
  hair behind the beat. But the vocals can run the
  full emotional gamut from laid-back crooning to
  full-throated gospel shouting, making for some
  interesting juxtapositions, both in style and
  execution.(Erlewine, et al., eds. All Music
  Guide to the Blues. 2nd ed. San Francisco
  Backbeat Books, 1999.)

14
The Great Migration

• The Great Migration was a mass movement during
  the first half of the 20th century, during which
  millions of African Americans from primarily
  rural locations in the Southern United States
  moved to urban locations, particularly in the
  North. The migration occurred in two major waves,
  each centered around the World Wars, during which
  a great need for industrial workers arose in
  Northern (and later Western) cities. Although
  this promise of reliable employment attracted
  many, as did the hope for living conditions that
  were better and less oppressive than those in the
  South, it was not always found. However, the
  cultural impact of the Great Migration upon those
  who moved, and the cities to which they moved,
  was and continues to be dramatic.

15
Hobo

• A homeless person, typically one who is traveling
  in search of work. Though often used derogatorily
  to refer to such a person, it is also used more
  neutrally to describe the act of traveling in
  search of work, e.g., "when I first started
  hoboin'."

16
Boogie-Woogie

• refers to a particular style of jazz/blues piano,
  typically played at a rapid tempo, in which the
  left hand maintains a repeated rhythmic and
  melodic pattern in the bass and the right hand
  handles improvised variations in the treble.
  Arising most likely in the Midwest around the
  beginning of the 20th century, it spread widely
  in blues circles during the 1920s, gaining its
  name for posterity with the 1928 recording
  "Pinetop's Boogie-Woogie," by Clarence "Pine Top"
  Smith. Through the 1930s and 1940s, elements of
  boogie-woogie, particularly its repetitive blues
  bass lines, became integral components of
  big-band jazz, and would in later years form an
  important foundation of jump blues and early rock
  'n' roll.

17
Chicago Blues

• What is now referred to as the classic Chicago
  blues style was developed in the late 1940s and
  early 1950s, taking Delta blues, fully amplifying
  it, and putting it into a small-band context.
  Adding drums, bass, and piano (and sometimes
  saxophones) to the basic string band and
  harmonica aggregation, the style created the now
  standard blues band lineup. The form was (and is)
  flexible to accommodate singers, guitarists,
  pianists, and harmonica players as featured
  performers in front of the standard
  instrumentation. Later permutations of the style
  took place in the late 1950s and early 1960s,
  with new blood taking their cue from the
  lead-guitar work of BB King and T-Bone Walker,
  creating the popular West Side subgenre (which
  usually featured a horn section appended to the
  basic rhythm section).(Erlewine, et al., eds.
  All Music Guide to the Blues. 2nd ed. San
  Francisco Backbeat Books, 1999.)

18
Maxwell Street

• From the early 1900s until its relocation in the
  mid-1990s, the weekend open-air market along
  Chicago's Maxwell Street was a frequently
  changing urban milieu where one could find
  everything from used and new merchandise, to
  food, religion, and live music. It was a
  particularly important location for new
  immigrants to the city seeking employment,
  entertainment, and the familiarity of customs and
  people from "back home."

19
Jump Blues

• Jump blues refers to an up-tempo, jazz-tinged
  style of blues that first came to prominence in
  the mid- to late 1940s. Usually featuring a
  vocalist in front of a large, horn-driven
  orchestra or medium-sized combo with multiple
  horns, the style is earmarked by a driving
  rhythm, intensely shouted vocals, and honking
  tenor saxophone solos-all of those very elements
  a precursor to rock 'n' roll. The lyrics are
  almost always celebratory in nature, full of
  braggadocio and swagger. With less reliance on
  guitar work (the instrument usually being
  confined to rhythm section status) than other
  styles, jump blues was the bridge between the
  older styles of blues primarily those in a small
  band context-and the big-band jazz sound of the
  1940s.(Erlewine, et al., eds. All Music Guide to
  the Blues. 2nd ed. San Francisco Backbeat Books,
  1999.)

20
Texas Blues

• A geographical subgenre earmarked by a more
  relaxed, swinging feel than other styles of
  blues, Texas blues encompasses a number of style
  variations and has a long, distinguished history.
  Its earliest incarnation occurred in the
  mid-1920s, featuring acoustic guitar work rich in
  filigree patterns-almost an extension of the
  vocals rather than merely a strict accompaniment
  to it. This version of Texas blues embraced both
  the songster and country-blues traditions, with
  its lyrics relying less on affairs of the heart
  than other forms. The next stage of development
  in the region's sound came after World War II,
  bringing forth a fully electric style that
  featured jazzy, single-string soloing over
  predominantly horn-driven backing. The style
  stays current with a raft of regional performers
  primarily working in a small-combo
  context.(Erlewine, et al., eds. All Music Guide
  to the Blues. 2nd ed. San Francisco Backbeat
  Books, 1999.)

21
Race Records

• "Race records" was a term used by major and
  independent record labels from the early 1920s
  until the early 1950s to specifically label
  records recorded by African American artists. The
  term itself was not used pejoratively, but
  instead so that the records could be more readily
  marketed to an African American audience.

22
Slide

• Slide is a method of playing guitar where the
  player uses either a tube placed over the finger
  (such as a "bottleneck") or a flat edged object
  (such as a knife blade) to press down the strings
  of the guitar. The resulting sound wavers and
  fluctuates, and can include tones that cannot be
  reached in the conventional manner, where fingers
  are used to depress the strings. Blues slide
  guitar originated in the Mississippi Delta
  region, and is integrally associated with early
  electric blues, particularly as developed by
  Muddy Waters in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

23
Hoochie Coochie Man

• A slang term referring to both a type of
  suggestive dance, as well a class of conjurer or
  folk doctor in the voodoo tradition. In the
  Willie Dixon song "Hoochie Coochie Man," made
  famous by Muddy Waters, the latter is the
  definition being used. However, the sexual
  suggestiveness of the song itself has led to an
  expanded definition, in which the hoochie coochie
  man is someone with sexual prowess and appeal as
  powerful as the magic of a voodoo conjurer.

24
Harp

• In blues circles, the term "harp" is used
  interchangeably with "harmonica." Harmonicas are
  also occasionally referred to in jest as
  "Mississippi Saxophones."