Country blues: Difference between revisions
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{{Short description|Music genre}} |
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{{Refimprove|date=May 2016}} |
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{{redirect|Folk blues|the album by John Lee Hooker|Folk Blues (album)}} |
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{{Infobox music genre |
{{Infobox music genre |
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| name = Country blues |
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|bgcolor=#0000E1 |
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| other_names = {{Flat list| |
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|color=white |
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*Folk blues |
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*rural blues |
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|stylistic_origins={{hlist|[[Blues]]|[[folk music|folk]]|[[country music|country]]}} |
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*backwoods blues |
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*downhome blues |
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|instruments={{hlist|[[Guitar]]|[[harmonica]]}} |
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|popularity=Early to mid-20th century |
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|derivatives={{hlist|[[Chicago blues]]|[[Detroit blues]]|[[electric blues]]|[[Memphis blues]]|[[New Orleans blues]]|[[swamp blues]]|[[hill country blues]]}} |
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|subgenrelist= |
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|subgenres= {{hlist|[[Delta blues]]|[[Louisiana blues]]|[[Piedmont blues]]}} |
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|fusiongenres= |
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|regional_scenes= |
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|other_topics= |
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}} |
}} |
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| stylistic_origins = {{Flatlist| |
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'''Country blues''' (also '''folk blues''', '''rural blues''', '''backwoods blues''', or '''downhome blues''') is acoustic, mainly [[guitar]]-driven forms of the [[blues]], that mixes blues elements with characteristics of [[country music|country]] and [[folk music|folk]]. 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 blues|Memphis]], [[Detroit blues|Detroit]], [[Chicago blues|Chicago]], [[Texas blues|Texas]], [[Piedmont blues|Piedmont]], [[Louisiana blues|Louisiana]], [[West Coast blues|West Coast]], [[St. Louis blues (music)|St. Louis]], [[East Coast blues|East Coast]], [[Swamp blues|Swamp]], [[New Orleans blues|New Orleans]], [[Delta blues|Delta]], [[Hill country blues|Hill country]] and [[Kansas City blues (music)|Kansas City]] blues.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blues.org/blues/background/country.php#ref=blues_background_country |title=Archived copy |accessdate=June 29, 2011 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120125010344/http://www.blues.org/blues/background/country.php |archivedate=January 25, 2012 }}</ref> |
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*[[Blues]] |
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*[[folk music|folk]] |
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*[[gospel music]] |
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}} |
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| subgenres = {{Flatlist| |
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*[[Delta blues]] |
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*[[Piedmont blues]] |
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}} |
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}} |
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'''Country blues''' (also '''folk blues''', '''rural blues''', '''backwoods blues''', or '''downhome blues''') is one of the earliest forms of [[blues]] music. The mainly solo vocal with acoustic [[fingerstyle guitar]] accompaniment developed in the rural [[Southern United States]] in the early 20th century.<ref name="Rev">{{cite web | url = http://blues.about.com/od/abluesprimer/a/CountryBlues.htm | title = Country Blues Style Characteristics and Artists | first = Reverend Keith A. | last = Gordon | website = Liveaboutdotcom | date = May 23, 2019 | access-date = July 15, 2019 | archive-date = August 7, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110807191908/http://blues.about.com/od/abluesprimer/a/CountryBlues.htm | url-status = dead }}</ref> It stands in contrast primarily to the [[Blues#Urban blues|urban blues]] style, especially in the pre-war era. |
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==History== |
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When the African-American musical tastes began to change in the early 1960s, moving toward [[soul music|soul]] and [[rhythm and blues]] music, country blues found renewed popularity as "folk blues" and was sold to a primarily white, college-age audience. Traditional artists like [[Big Bill Broonzy]] and [[Sonny Boy Williamson II]] reinvented themselves as folk blues artists, while Piedmont bluesmen like [[Sonny Terry]] and [[Brownie McGhee]] found great success on the [[American folk music revival|folk festival circuit]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blues.about.com/od/abluesprimer/a/CountryBlues.htm|title=Country Blues Style Characteristics and Artists|author=Reverend Keith A. Gordon|work=About.com Entertainment}}</ref> |
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Artists such as [[Blind Lemon Jefferson]] (Texas), [[Charley Patton]] (Mississippi), [[Blind Willie McTell]] (Georgia) were among the first to record blues songs in the 1920s. Country blues ran parallel to [[urban blues]], which was popular in cities.<ref name="Gordon"/> |
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Historian Elijah Wald notes many similarities between blues, [[Bluegrass music|bluegrass]], and [[Country music|country & western]] styles with roots in the American south.{{sfn|Wald|2010|pp=1589}} Record labels in the 1920s and 1930s carefully segregated musicians and defined styles for racially targeted audiences.{{sfn|Wald|2010|pp=1391}} Over time, the rural black and rural white music evolved into different styles, with artists such as [[Bobby Bland]], [[Ray Charles]], and [[Willie Nelson]] lamenting the divide.{{sfn|Wald|2010|pp=1589}} |
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Seminal compilations of pre-[[World War II|WWII]] country blues recordings assembled in the 1950s are the ''[[Anthology of American Folk Music]]'' and ''[[The Country Blues]]''. |
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Folklorist [[Alan Lomax]] was one of the first to use the term and applied it to a [[field recording]] he made of [[Muddy Waters]] at the [[Stovall, Mississippi|Stovall Plantation, Mississippi]], in 1941.<ref name="Gordon"> |
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{{cite book |
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| last = Gordon |
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| first = Robert |
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| title = Can't Be Satisfied: The Life and Times of Muddy Waters |
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| location = New York City |
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| publisher = [[Little, Brown and Company|Little, Brown]] |
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| year = 2002 |
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| isbn = 0-316-32849-9 |
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| pages = 38–39 |
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}}</ref> In 1959, music historian [[Samuel Charters]] wrote ''[[The Country Blues (book)|The Country Blues]]'', an influential scholarly work on the subject.<ref name="Gioia"> |
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{{cite book |
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| last = Gioia |
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| first = Ted |
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| author-link = Ted Gioia |
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| year = 2008 |
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| title = Delta Blues |
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| edition = Norton Paperback 2009 |
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| location = New York City |
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| publisher = [[W. W. Norton]] |
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| isbn = 978-0-393-33750-1 |
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| pages = [https://archive.org/details/deltablueslifeti00gioi/page/351 351–352] |
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| url-access = registration |
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| url = https://archive.org/details/deltablueslifeti00gioi/page/351 |
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}}</ref> He also produced an album, also titled ''[[The Country Blues]]'', with early recordings by Jefferson, McTell, [[Sleepy John Estes]], [[Bukka White]], and [[Robert Johnson]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/us/dallas-church-preserving-the-legacy-of-robert-johnson.html?_r=0|last=Christensen|first=Thor|date=November 19, 2011|title=Dallas Church Preserving the Legacy of Robert Johnson|website=[[Nytimes.com]]| access-date=12 August 2022}}</ref> |
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Charters's works helped to introduce the then-nearly forgotten music to the [[American folk music revival]] of the late 1950s and 1960s.<ref name="Gioia"/> The acoustic roots-focused movement also gave rise to the terms "folk blues" and "acoustic blues", especially being applied to performances and recordings made around this period.<ref name="Rev"/> "Country blues" has also been used to describe regional acoustic styles, such as [[Delta blues]], [[Piedmont blues]], or the earliest [[Chicago blues|Chicago]], [[Texas blues|Texas]], and [[Memphis blues|Memphis]] blues.<ref name="Rev"/> |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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*[[List of country blues musicians]] |
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* [[Liboi |
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==References== |
==References== |
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{{Commons category}} |
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{{Reflist}} |
{{Reflist}} |
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* {{cite book |last=Wald |first=Elijah |authorlink=Elijah Wald |title=The Blues. A Very Short Introduction |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-19-539893-9 |edition=Kindle }} |
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| ⚫ | |||
{{Authority control}} |
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Country blues}} |
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[[Category:Country blues| ]] |
[[Category:Country blues| ]] |
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[[Category:20th-century music genres]] |
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[[Category:Blues music genres]] |
[[Category:Blues music genres]] |
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Latest revision as of 11:58, 24 September 2024
| Country blues | |
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| Other names |
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| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | Early 20th century, American South |
| Subgenres | |
Country blues (also folk blues, rural blues, backwoods blues, or downhome blues) is one of the earliest forms of blues music. The mainly solo vocal with acoustic fingerstyle guitar accompaniment developed in the rural Southern United States in the early 20th century.[1] It stands in contrast primarily to the urban blues style, especially in the pre-war era.
History
[edit]Artists such as Blind Lemon Jefferson (Texas), Charley Patton (Mississippi), Blind Willie McTell (Georgia) were among the first to record blues songs in the 1920s. Country blues ran parallel to urban blues, which was popular in cities.[2]
Historian Elijah Wald notes many similarities between blues, bluegrass, and country & western styles with roots in the American south.[3] Record labels in the 1920s and 1930s carefully segregated musicians and defined styles for racially targeted audiences.[4] Over time, the rural black and rural white music evolved into different styles, with artists such as Bobby Bland, Ray Charles, and Willie Nelson lamenting the divide.[3]
Folklorist Alan Lomax was one of the first to use the term and applied it to a field recording he made of Muddy Waters at the Stovall Plantation, Mississippi, in 1941.[2] In 1959, music historian Samuel Charters wrote The Country Blues, an influential scholarly work on the subject.[5] He also produced an album, also titled The Country Blues, with early recordings by Jefferson, McTell, Sleepy John Estes, Bukka White, and Robert Johnson.[6]
Charters's works helped to introduce the then-nearly forgotten music to the American folk music revival of the late 1950s and 1960s.[5] The acoustic roots-focused movement also gave rise to the terms "folk blues" and "acoustic blues", especially being applied to performances and recordings made around this period.[1] "Country blues" has also been used to describe regional acoustic styles, such as Delta blues, Piedmont blues, or the earliest Chicago, Texas, and Memphis blues.[1]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Country blues.
- ^ a b c Gordon, Reverend Keith A. (May 23, 2019). "Country Blues Style Characteristics and Artists". Liveaboutdotcom. Archived from the original on August 7, 2011. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
- ^ a b Gordon, Robert (2002). Can't Be Satisfied: The Life and Times of Muddy Waters. New York City: Little, Brown. pp. 38–39. ISBN 0-316-32849-9.
- ^ a b Wald 2010, pp. 1589.
- ^ Wald 2010, pp. 1391.
- ^ a b Gioia, Ted (2008). Delta Blues (Norton Paperback 2009 ed.). New York City: W. W. Norton. pp. 351–352. ISBN 978-0-393-33750-1.
- ^ Christensen, Thor (November 19, 2011). "Dallas Church Preserving the Legacy of Robert Johnson". Nytimes.com. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
- Wald, Elijah (2010). The Blues. A Very Short Introduction (Kindle ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-539893-9.
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