Overview
As mentioned in Lesson 1, the 12-bar blues was one of the most popular African American musical forms in the early to mid-twentieth century. In this lesson, we look at the blues as a genre, focusing on two specific types: the rural blues and the urban blues. These two types of blues share many characteristics, but at the same time, they are clearly distinguishable from each other. Early blues recordings also make an excellent case study of race records and the treatment of African American musicians in the recording studio and by the recording industry. In addition, we will see some other blues-inspired music, such as boogie woogie and blues-based or blues-inspired popular songs.
Objectives
- Examine two specific types of blues to understand the musical form, instrumentation, harmony, and lyric content of each
- Examine the listenership of each type of blues music and how these musics were recorded, marketed, and consumed by both white and African American audiences
- Examine the specific aspects that are key to African American music, such as call and response and blue notes
- Identify the 12-bar blues form
- Identify the performers associated with rural blues
- Identify the performers associated with urban blues
Conclusion
The blues is marked by a 12-bar form and relatively specific harmonic content and lyric structure. Within this format, however, blues singers found infinite variety. Rural blues, usually performed by a male singer who accompanied himself on guitar, was exemplified by musicians such as Leadbelly and Robert Johnson. The urban blues, typified by female singers such as Bessie Smith or Mamie Smith who were backed by a pianist of small jazz combo, were recorded and promoted on race records, although white audiences were also interested in the recordings. These two types of blues were dominant, but others were also available to listeners, such as boogie woogie and commercial blues. Blues was one of the earliest genres that became popular on recordings, although print versions of commercial or arranged blues songs also sold well.
