NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Country blues

Country blues (also folk blues, rural blues, or downhome blues) refers to all the acoustic, guitar-driven forms of the blues. After blues' birth in the southern United States, it quickly spread throughout the country (and elsewhere), giving birth to a host of regional styles. These include Memphis, Detroit, Chicago, Texas, Piedmont, Louisiana, Western, Atlanta, St. Louis, East Coast, Swamp, New Orleans, Delta and Kansas City blues. The acoustic archtop guitar, used in Jazz music, features steel strings The guitar is a stringed musical instrument. ... For other uses, see blues (disambiguation) The blues is a vocal and instrumental music form based on the pentatonic scale and often on the twelve-bar chord progression. ... The Memphis Blues is the title of a tune and song published by W.C. Handy in 1912. ... Detroit blues is blues music played by musicians resident in Detroit, Michigan, particularly that played in the 1940s and 50s. ... The Chicago blues is a form of blues music that developed in Chicago by adding electricity, drums, piano, bass guitar and sometimes saxophone to the basic string/harmonica Delta blues. ... Texas blues is a subgenre of the blues. ... The Piedmont blues is a type of blues music characterized by a unique fingerpicking method on the guitar in which a regular, alternating-thumb bass pattern supports a melody using treble strings. ... The Louisiana blues is a type of blues music that is characterized by plodding rhythms that make the sound dark and tense. ... The West Coast blues is a type of blues music characterized by jazz and jump blues influences, strong piano-dominated sounds and jazzy guitar solos (which originated from Texas blues players relocated to California). ... The St. ... East Coast blues casts a wide net covering all of Piedmont blues--a style that relied on fast, virtuosic fingerpicking and added influences such as ragtime--as well as the urbanized R&B of New York blues and countless smaller regional styles. ... The swamp blues is a form of blues music that is highly evolved and specialized. ... The blues have been an important part of New Orleans, USA music since the earliest years of the 20th century. ... The Delta blues is one of the earliest styles of blues music. ...

According to Richard Middleton (1990, p.142) folk blues "was constructed as a distinct discursive category in the early decades of this century [20th], mostly as the result of the activities of record companies, marketing 'old-fashioned' music to rural Southern 'folk' and newly arrived urban dwellers." Also contributing to the documentation of the genre were John and Alan Lomax, Samuel Charters, Paul Oliver, David Evans, Jeff Todd Titon, and William Ferris (all bourgeois, as pointed out by Middleton). Richard Middleton may be Richard Middleton (Lord Chancellor) medieval theologian, philosopher and Lord Chancellor Richard Middleton (writer) (1882 - 1911) British poet and ghost story writer Richard Middleton (musicologist) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... John Avery Lomax (September 23, 1867 - January 26, 1948) was a pioneering musicologist and folklorist. ... Lomax playing guitar, sometime between 1938 and 1950 Alan Lomax (January 31, 1915 â€“ July 19, 2002) was an American folklorist and musicologist specializing in the music of the United States and that of other nations which influenced American music. ... Paul Ambrose Oliver (1830 - 1912) was a U.S. explosives inventor. ... David Evans may mean: David A. Evans, organic chemistry professor at Harvard David Allan Evans, poet David C. Evans (1924-1998), computer graphics pioneer David Howell Evans (b. ...

Country blues were constructed from "a much more heterogeous, fluid musical field" participated in by black and some white people including ragtime, early jazz, religious song, Tin Pan Alley, minstrel, and other theater songs (Oliver 1984 and Russell 1970). Blues was "defined...functionally - it was 'good time music' - or experientally - blues was a feeling - rather than by reference to any formal characteristics or stereotypes," though, "at the same time, many of those characteristics (pentatonic melody, blue tonality, typical chord progression and stanza patterns, call and response) could be found in other forms and contexts too: in hillbilly and Country music, gospel song, ragtime, jazz and Tin Pan Alley hits."

Titon (1977, p.xvi) points out, however, that "downhome blues songs...do not sound like the folk songs of singers like Leadbelly...yet...early downhome blues is best regarded as folk music...despite the dangers of the implication that if downhome blues is folk music, then downhome black Americans must constitute a folk group." (Middleton 1990, p.144)

Countering the idea of country blues as folk music is the blues individualism. Abbey Niles wrote that the blues have to do with "the element of pure 'self'." W.C. Handy wrote that they are able to "express...personal feeling in a sort of musical soliloquy" (both quoted in Levine 1977, p.222), and Robert Palmer (1981, p.75) states that the singer's "involvement becomes both the subject and substance of the work."

"The blues was the most highly personalized, indeed the first almost completely personalized music that Afro-Americans developed. It was the first important form of African-American music in the United States to lack the kind of antiphony that had marked other black musical forms. The call and response form remained, but in blues it was the singer who responded to himself either verbally or on an accompanying instrument. In all these respects blues was the most typically American music Afro-Americans had yet created and represented a major degree of acculturation to the individualized ethos of the larger society." (Levine 1977, p.221)

Middleton describes the rural blues artist as a wanderer and social outsider whose lyrical themes not surprisingly include loneliness, alienation, and travel. He and Keil (1966, p.76) suggests that blues artists may have served as "licensed" critics containing "unflinching subjectivity...in the context of its time and place...was positively heroic. Only a man who understands his worth and believes in his freedom sings as if nothing else matters" (Palmer 1981, p.75).

Szwed (1969, p.118-9) argues that the "Blues arose as a popular music form in the early 1900s, the period of the first great Negro migration north to the cities...The formal and stylistic elements of the blues seem to symbolise newly emerging social patterns during the crisis period of urbanisation...By replacing the functions served by sacred music, the blues eased a transition from land-based agrarian society to one based on mobile wage-labor urbanism."

Notable country blues musicians

Son House, circa 1965 Eddie James House, Jr. ... Fred McDowell (January 12, 1904-July 3, 1972), called Mississippi Fred McDowell was a singer and guitar player of delta blues. ... Robert Pete Williams (March 14, 1914 â€“ December 31, 1980) was an American blues musician, based in Lousiana. ...

References

Films

Categories: ‪Cleanup from July 2005‬ | ‪Blues‬ Country music, also called country and western music or country-western, is an amalgam of popular musical forms developed in the Southern United States, with roots in traditional folk music, Celtic Music, Blues, Gospel music, and Old-time music. ... Alternative country Americana Cosmic American music Close harmony Country gospel Country pop/Cosmopolitan country Country soul New country Urban cowboy Country rock Bluegrass New traditional bluegrass Old-time bluegrass/Appalachian bluegrass Progressive bluegrass Honky-tonk Bakersfield Sound Instrumental country Nashville Sound Outlaw country Truckin songs Western swing Categories: Wikipedia cleanup... The Bakersfield sound was a genre of country music developed in the mid- to late 1950s in and around Bakersfield, California, at bars such as The Blackboard. ... Bluegrass music is considered a form of American roots music with its own roots in the English, Irish and Scottish traditional music of immigrants from the British Isles (particularly the Scots-Irish immigrants of Appalachia), as well as the music of rural African-Americans, jazz, and blues. ... Close harmony is an arrangement of the notes of chords within a narrow range, typically one octave. ... Honky tonk was originally the name of a type of bar common throughout the southern United States, also Honkatonk or Honkey-tonk. ... A jug band is a band employing a jug player and other traditional and homemade instruments, such as rhythm guitar, washtub bass, washboard, jug, mandolin, spoons, and kazoo. ... Lubbock sound is a genre of American music that began with the popularity of Lubbock, Texas native Buddy Holly. ... The Nashville sound in country music arose during the 1950s in the United States. ... Willie Nelson Outlaw country was a significant trend in country music during the late 1960s and the 1970s. ... Alternative Country is a term applied to various subgenres of country music. ... Country rock is a musical genre formed from the fusion of rock and roll with country music. ... Psychobilly is a genre of music generally described as a mix between the British punk rock of the 1970s and the American rockabilly of the 1950s. ... Rockabilly is the earliest form of rock and roll as a distinct style of music. ... American roots music is a broad category of music including country music, bluegrass, gospel, ragtime, jug bands, Appalachian folk, blues, Tejano and Cajun and Native American music. ... Appalachian folk music is a distinctive genre of folk music originating in the Appalachia region of the United States of America. ... For other uses, see blues (disambiguation) The blues is a vocal and instrumental music form based on the pentatonic scale and often on the twelve-bar chord progression. ... Ragtime is an American musical genre, enjoying its peak popularity around the years 1900â€“1918. ... The music of Louisiana, like other cultural aspects of the state, can be divided in to three general regions. ... Zydeco is a form of folk music, originated in the beginning of the 20th century among the Creole peoples of south-west Louisiana and influenced by the music of the French-speaking Cajuns. ... Country music, also called country and western music or country-western, is an amalgam of popular musical forms developed in the Southern United States, with roots in traditional folk music, Celtic Music, Blues, Gospel music, and Old-time music. ... Honky tonk was originally the name of a type of bar common throughout the southern United States, also Honkatonk or Honkey-tonk. ... Bluegrass music is considered a form of American roots music with its own roots in the English, Irish and Scottish traditional music of immigrants from the British Isles (particularly the Scots-Irish immigrants of Appalachia), as well as the music of rural African-Americans, jazz, and blues. ... Jazz master Louis Armstrong remains one of the most loved and best known of all jazz musicians. ... There are hundreds of tribes of Native Americans (called the First Nations in Canada), each with diverse musical practices, spread across the United States and Canada (excluding Hawaiian music). ... A spiritual is an African American song, usually with a Christian religious text. ... Gospel music may refer either to the religious music that first came out of African-American churches in the 1930s or, more loosely, to both black gospel music and to the religious music composed and sung by white southern Christian artists. ... Tejano is also the name given to Texans of Mexican or Spanish origin. ... For other uses, see blues (disambiguation) The blues is a vocal and instrumental music form based on the pentatonic scale and often on the twelve-bar chord progression. ... Blues can be categorized into a number of genres. ... The Delta blues is one of the earliest styles of blues music. ... Jazz blues is a musical style that combines jazz and blues. ... The jump blues is a type of blues music, characterized by a jazzy, saxophone (or other horn instruments) sound, driving rhythms and shouted vocals. ... Piano blues refers to a variety of blues styles, sharing only the characteristic that they use the piano as the primary musical instrument. ... Blues Rock or Blues-rock is a fusion genre of music which combines elements of the blues with rock and roll. ... Soul blues is a style of blues music developed in the early late 1960s and 1970s and combining eliments of soul music and urban contemporary music. ... The British blues is a type of blues music that originated in the late 1950s. ... The Chicago blues is a form of blues music that developed in Chicago by adding electricity, drums, piano, bass guitar and sometimes saxophone to the basic string/harmonica Delta blues. ... Detroit blues is blues music played by musicians resident in Detroit, Michigan, particularly that played in the 1940s and 50s. ... The Louisiana blues is a type of blues music that is characterized by plodding rhythms that make the sound dark and tense. ... The Memphis Blues is the title of a tune and song published by W.C. Handy in 1912. ... The Piedmont blues is a type of blues music characterized by a unique fingerpicking method on the guitar in which a regular, alternating-thumb bass pattern supports a melody using treble strings. ... The St. ... The swamp blues is a form of blues music that is highly evolved and specialized. ... Texas blues is a subgenre of the blues. ... The West Coast blues is a type of blues music characterized by jazz and jump blues influences, strong piano-dominated sounds and jazzy guitar solos (which originated from Texas blues players relocated to California). ... Performers in the blues style range from primitive, one-chord Delta players to big bands to country music to rock and roll to classical music. ... American roots music is a broad category of music including country music, bluegrass, gospel, ragtime, jug bands, Appalachian folk, blues, Tejano and Cajun and Native American music. ... Appalachian folk music is a distinctive genre of folk music originating in the Appalachia region of the United States of America. ... For other uses, see blues (disambiguation) The blues is a vocal and instrumental music form based on the pentatonic scale and often on the twelve-bar chord progression. ... Ragtime is an American musical genre, enjoying its peak popularity around the years 1900â€“1918. ... The music of Louisiana, like other cultural aspects of the state, can be divided in to three general regions. ... Zydeco is a form of folk music, originated in the beginning of the 20th century among the Creole peoples of south-west Louisiana and influenced by the music of the French-speaking Cajuns. ... Country music, also called country and western music or country-western, is an amalgam of popular musical forms developed in the Southern United States, with roots in traditional folk music, Celtic Music, Blues, Gospel music, and Old-time music. ... Honky tonk was originally the name of a type of bar common throughout the southern United States, also Honkatonk or Honkey-tonk. ... Bluegrass music is considered a form of American roots music with its own roots in the English, Irish and Scottish traditional music of immigrants from the British Isles (particularly the Scots-Irish immigrants of Appalachia), as well as the music of rural African-Americans, jazz, and blues. ... Jazz master Louis Armstrong remains one of the most loved and best known of all jazz musicians. ... There are hundreds of tribes of Native Americans (called the First Nations in Canada), each with diverse musical practices, spread across the United States and Canada (excluding Hawaiian music). ... A spiritual is an African American song, usually with a Christian religious text. ... Gospel music may refer either to the religious music that first came out of African-American churches in the 1930s or, more loosely, to both black gospel music and to the religious music composed and sung by white southern Christian artists. ... Tejano is also the name given to Texans of Mexican or Spanish origin. ...