A (VERY) BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BLUES

What most of us think of as blues today bears little or no relationship to the original music. Its roots are set firmly in the American South and the slave labour brought over from the African continent to work in the fields.

These slaves had brought with them the rhythms and musical sensibilities of West Africa reflecting the music of their ancestors. Work songs were sung rhythmically in time with the task being done. They used call and response in which phrases from a lead singer were followed by the other singers. African music combined with the folk music of the white European settlers to produce new styles of music.

Traditional songs were handed down by word of mouth and old lyrics were often adapted and turned into new ones. The guitar and harmonica were used to accompany vocals in the Delta blues as they were easy to carry around.

The first blues recordings were made in the 1920s by Black women, beginning with Mamie Smith. Her version of American composer and pianist Perry Bradford’s “Crazy Blues” in 1920 was so successful that the General Phonograph Company’s OKeh label launched a series called “Original Race Records”. Blues singers Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, and Clara Smith recorded for Columbia, while Ma Rainey, Ida Cox, and Alberta Hunter recorded for Paramount.

The blues became adapted to the more sophisticated urban environment. Lyrics took up urban themes, and the blues ensemble developed as the solo bluesman was joined by a pianist or harmonica player and then by a rhythm section consisting of bass and drums. Different styles of blues emerged, known collectively as city blues or urban blues. During the 1940s and 1950s city blues was very popular in black clubs and bars. Some of these blues styles were jazz influenced and many had amplified bands including the likes of Elmore James, Howlin’ Wolf, T-Bone Walker and B.B. King.

By the 1960s, the blues had spread beyond the USA notably to the UK and the rest of Western Europe. English blues guitarists such as Eric Clapton and Stan Webb emulated this style. Many more blues rock guitarists have followed. The blues has left its mark on all areas of popular music and is the driving force behind rock music.

So, how would you define blues these days? Well, that’s next to impossible. Peter Green is famously reported as saying that the blues is not just a 12-bar sequence. It’s more about a sense of “intent” or emotion. Steely Dan described themselves as a blues band – and you won’t find a lot of “standard” blues songs in their repertoire!

All of which leads to the music of The British Bluescasting Corporation. It’s definitely “bluesy”; some have described it as “blues-ish”; one or two of the tracks on the new album High Horse, even have a recognisable 12-bar format! But, as with blues music across the generations, it reflects the time, place and experience of the people who write, play and sing it.