History of American music from Mississippi Blues to Rock and Roll via Elvis
A very nice web article appeared today in my RSS feed reader (that's how its done now a days to get news from more than just your local newspaper and not miss out on really good stuff)
http://www.vueweekly.com/article.php?id=12886
Even though it starts out about a blues festival in Edmonton, it digresses into a comprehensive mini history of american music.
"Delta Blues, jazz, rock 'n' roll, heavy metal and hip hop all have their origins in blues music."
The Missiissippi governor early this summer dedicated a new welcome sign for visitors entering the state which says, "Welcome to Mississippi, birthplace of America's music". I went down to the local welcome center next to the Mississippi river bridge here in Vicksburg just to see this sign and take a picture. It got my curiosity up enough to keep on exploring what that meant.
This article describes the share cropper experience, the migration northward, people escaping the harsh conditions of the Delta, changing social and economical times, and the civil rights movement.
Then came along Les Paul and the electric guitar and the electrification of the blues by Muddy Waters and others. Elvis Presley in Memphis turned blues into rock and roll. American music was really changing in wave after wave of of bands and new sounds. They were all rooted in the blues. Bob Dylan before and after electrification, Newport Folk Festival. The biggest surprise for me is discovering that a hard rock guitarist named Jimi Hendrix I was so fascinated to hear during my college years in the early 1970s was deeply rooted in blues. Somehow I never got to hear him play the Catfish Blues and songs like that back during those years. It was the same with Dylan. College freshman kind of like that rebellious stuff and Dyan and Hendrix had plenty of that.
This article again is opening my experience and tieing all this history together. I'm just a blues fan. I used to could do a little blues progression on a guitar once a long time ago but never got good at it. I don't have a guitar. All I have is a heart and a soul that craves the blues + I can't get it out of my mind.
http://www.vueweekly.com/article.php?id=12886
Even though it starts out about a blues festival in Edmonton, it digresses into a comprehensive mini history of american music.
"Delta Blues, jazz, rock 'n' roll, heavy metal and hip hop all have their origins in blues music."
The Missiissippi governor early this summer dedicated a new welcome sign for visitors entering the state which says, "Welcome to Mississippi, birthplace of America's music". I went down to the local welcome center next to the Mississippi river bridge here in Vicksburg just to see this sign and take a picture. It got my curiosity up enough to keep on exploring what that meant.
This article describes the share cropper experience, the migration northward, people escaping the harsh conditions of the Delta, changing social and economical times, and the civil rights movement.
Then came along Les Paul and the electric guitar and the electrification of the blues by Muddy Waters and others. Elvis Presley in Memphis turned blues into rock and roll. American music was really changing in wave after wave of of bands and new sounds. They were all rooted in the blues. Bob Dylan before and after electrification, Newport Folk Festival. The biggest surprise for me is discovering that a hard rock guitarist named Jimi Hendrix I was so fascinated to hear during my college years in the early 1970s was deeply rooted in blues. Somehow I never got to hear him play the Catfish Blues and songs like that back during those years. It was the same with Dylan. College freshman kind of like that rebellious stuff and Dyan and Hendrix had plenty of that.
This article again is opening my experience and tieing all this history together. I'm just a blues fan. I used to could do a little blues progression on a guitar once a long time ago but never got good at it. I don't have a guitar. All I have is a heart and a soul that craves the blues + I can't get it out of my mind.
Tags: blues
Views: 216
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Tonia sellers on -
Thanks for posting this Charles. The blues are still very much alive down in Mississippi and I appreciate anyone trying to spread the word of this greatly overlooked heritage. So many influenced by this oppressed land.
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