Blues from the Delta

As much as I love the music of Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, and Woody Herman, I've been listening to them non-stop for nearly a month.  I need a bit of a palate cleanser.  So, on the drive back from band rehearsal I popped in a blues CD.

Last year I did a project that dealt a lot with early jazz and blues and developed a strong appreciation for the music of the early Delta blues men.  Men like Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Son House, Charley Patton, and Lead Belly (Huddie Ledbetter).  Most of them weren't full-time or "professional" musicians, but they were masters of the blues.  Many of them worked as sharecroppers or field hands and played their instruments when they could.  Fortunately, some of them recorded their work.

The Mississippi Delta is the northwest corner of Mississippi, bound in by the Mississippi River to the west and the Yazoo River to the east.  This is where the original crossroads are located.  Where Robert Johnson was said to have met the Devil to exchange his soul for his amazing guitar playing abilities.  It is also where W.C. Handy waited for a train in Clarksdale, and while there heard a man playing the blues and got inspired.  Guitars were the most common accompanying the voices because they were portable, light, and could be easily attained.  Sometimes bottle necks (sawed off of glass beer bottles) were used to make interesting, speech-like sound effects.

The Delta blues traveled along the railroads and steamboats to New Orleans and Chicago, where it was given new life.  Its influence made its way into the Chicago style electric blues, which influenced rock music.  The free rhythms and progressions were picked up by early jazz musicians. 

It is a true American music.