1. History of Rock and Roll
Roots of Rock, 1:
Blues

2. Blues: “an African-American folk music genre that developed in the rural American South.”
The musical roots of blues begin in Africa:
work songs
dance music
folk music
The characteristics of African music were retained in the music of African American Slaves:
work songs
"Field hollers"
worship music

3. The musical “building blocks” of blues
Melody:
blues “scales”
“blue” notes
Vocal gestures:
slurs
Shouts
“bent” notes
sung-speech
Rhythm:
steady, strongly accented rhythms
Accents on beats “2 and 4”
Harmony:
Blues “chords” built on 1st, 4th, and 5th notes of the major scale

4. “twelve bar blues”
“12 bar blues” has a pattern of 12 “bars” or measures
These 12 bars correspond to a typical pattern of chords:
bar 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
chord I IV V
This pattern repeats once for each verse
The presence of a predictable structural pattern facilitates improvisation

5. Blues – common themes
Blues has a lot of common themes:
Suffering
Poverty
unrequited love
Sexuality
humor

6. Blues recordings - beginnings
Blues existed for many years before it was recorded.
The first blues recordings were made around 1920.
One of the first big hits was “Crazy Blues,” which featured singer Mamie Smith (pictured, right.)
The first recordings were marketed as "race records" (a name coined by Ralph Peer – who was Ralph Peer?) and aimed at an African-American audience
Following Mamie Smith’s successful hit, many of the first recorded blues singers were women:
Left to right:
Ma Rainey, Alberta Hunter, Victoria Spivey, Sippie Wallace, Memphis Minnie, Bessie Smith

7. Bessie Smith “Empress of the Blues”
b.1894; came from extreme poverty and a difficult life
worked with Ma Rainey in a blues traveling troupe
Her first record was "Downhearted Blues," 1923
Her career declined in the early 30s during the depression
killed in a car crash in 1937 in Mississippi; buried in an unmarked grave in Philadelphia
In 1970, blues and rock singer Janis Joplin paid to have
a proper tombstone put on Bessie Smith's grave.
Ironically, Joplin herself died later that year.

8. Rural Southern Blues Characteristics:
A “hollering” singing style ("field holler' singing)
most often accompanied on acoustic guitar, sometimes with harmonica
Guitar sometimes played with bottleneck slide (or even the side of a knife)

9. above: Blind Lemon Jefferson; Blind Willie Johnson
Rural Blues - Texas
above: Blind Lemon Jefferson; Blind Willie Johnson
Texas rural blues was characterized by strong gospel influences, and an emphasis on “single string” guitar playing

10. Above: Blind Blake; Blind Willie McTell
Rural Blues - Georgia
Above: Blind Blake; Blind Willie McTell
Rural Georgia blues was characterized by a strong ragtime influence, a range of different musical structures, and an “uptown” (more sophisticated) sound

11. Rural Blues – Mississippi “Delta” Blues
Above: Charlie Patten, Son House, Robert Johnson
Mississippi Delta Blues was characterized by a prominent rhythmic “groove;” a more primitive sound; and irregular, sometimes assymetrical musical structures.

12. “King of the Delta Blues."
Robert Johnson
Virtuoso Delta blues guitarist and singer; career happened in 1930’s Depression era
Major influence on Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, and many later rock guitarists
Famous legend that Johnson “sold his soul to the devil,” in return for amazing virtuosity
Mysterious circumstances around his death: he was murdered in 1938 at the age 27 (either by a jealous husband or a jealous girlfriend)
“King of the Delta Blues."