Delta blues
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| Delta Blues | |
| Stylistic origins | |
|---|---|
| Cultural origins | |
| Typical instruments | |
| Derivative forms | Chicago blues, Detroit blues |
The Delta blues is one of the earliest styles of blues music. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, a region of the United States that stretches from Memphis, Tennessee in the north to Vicksburg, Mississippi in the south, the Mississippi River on the west to the Yazoo River on the east. The Mississippi Delta area is famous both for its fertile soil and its extreme poverty. Guitar and harmonica are the dominant instruments used. The vocal styles range from introspective and soulful to passionate and fiery.
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[edit] Origin
Delta blues music was first recorded in the late 1920s. The earliest recordings were by the 'major' labels and consist mostly of one person singing and playing an instrument, though the use of a band was more common during live performances. Some of these recordings were made on 'field trips' to the South by record company talent scouts, but some Delta blues performers were invited to travel to northern cities to record. According to Dixon & Godrich [1981], Tommy Johnson and Ishman Bracey were recorded by Victor on that company's second field trip to Memphis, in 1928. Robert Wilkins was first recorded by Victor in Memphis in 1928, and Big Joe Williams and Garfield Akers also in Memphis (1929) by Brunswick/Vocalion.
Son House first recorded in Grafton, Wisconsin (1930) by Paramount. Charley Patton also recorded for Paramount in Grafton, in June 1929 (and again, at the same location in May 1930). In January and February 1934 Patton visited New York City for further recording sessions. Robert Johnson travelled to San Antonio (1936) and Dallas (1937) for his ARC, and only, sessions.
Subsequently, the early Delta blues (as well as other genres) were extensively recorded by Alan Lomax, who criss-crossed the Southern US recording music played and sung by ordinary people. His recordings number in the thousands, and now reside in the Smithsonian Institution. According to Dixon & Godrich (1981) and Leadbitter & Slaven (1968), Alan Lomax and the Library of Congress researchers did not record any Delta bluesmen (or women) prior to 1941, when he recorded Son House & Willie Brown near Lake Cormorant, Mississippi, and Muddy Waters at Stovall, Mississippi.
[edit] Style
"Delta blues" is a style as much as a geographical appellation: Skip James and Elmore James, who were not born in the Delta, were considered Delta blues musicians. Performers traveled throughout the Mississippi Delta, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, and Tennessee. Eventually, Delta blues spread out across the country, giving rise to a host of regional variations, including Chicago and Detroit blues.
Scholars disagree as to whether there is a substantial, musicological difference between blues that originated in this region and in other parts of the country. The defining characteristic of Delta blues is instrumentation and an emphasis on rhythm and "bottleneck" slide; the basic harmonic structure is not substantially different from that of blues performed elsewhere.
The Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman Farm was an important influence on several blues musicians who were imprisoned there, and was referenced in songs such as Bukka White's 'Parchman Farm Blues' and the folk song 'Midnight Special'. Thus Delta blues can refer to one of the first pop-music subcultures as well as to a performing style. This style of blues heavily influenced British Blues which led to the birth of early hard rock and heavy metal.
By some, the term "Delta Blues" itself is seen as an invented "authenticity" mainly constructed by white folk revivalists in post-war times. Their "perception of the music’s authentic contours is rural, male, non-commercial, and permeated by sorrow." By this, they erase a large part of a supposedly 'inauthentic' history of the blues, especially sexual song.
[edit] List of artists
- Robert Lockwood, Jr.
- Robert Lowery
- Tommy McClennan
- Mississippi Fred McDowell
- Blind Willie McTell
- Charley Patton
- Paul Pena
- Pinetop Perkins
- Snooky Pryor
- Jimmie Rodgers
- Johnny Shines
- Sunnyland Slim
- Henry Sloan
- Willie "Big Eyes" Smith
- Hound Dog Taylor
- Muddy Waters
- Bukka White
- Big Joe Williams
- Howlin' Wolf
[edit] See also
- Delta Blues Museum, in Clarksdale, Mississippi
- King of the Delta Blues Singers, an album by Robert Johnson
[edit] Bibliography
- Cobb, Charles E., Jr., "Traveling the Blues Highway", National Geographic Magazine, April 1999, v.195, n.4
- Dixon, RMW & Godrich, J (1981) Blues and Gospel Records: 1902-1943, Storyville, London.
- Gioia, Ted (2008) Delta Blues, W.W.Norton: New York.
- Hamilton, Marybeth: In Search of the Blues.
- Leadbitter, M & Slaven, N (1968) Blues Records 1943-1966, Oak Publications, London.
[edit] External links
- Trail of the Hellhound - Delta Blues in the lower Mississippi Valley
- The Mississippi Delta Blues Society of Indianola
- "The Blues", documentary by Martin Scorsese, aired on PBS.
- Comprehensive Blues Search Engine
- Mississippi Delta Blues Live Video Performances
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