What is Blues Tradition?
Blues Tradition refers to the musical, cultural, and spiritual lineage of blues music—a genre created by African Americans in the Deep South of the United States beginning in the late 1860s. Blues originated among African Americans in the Deep South around the 1860s as a form of secular folk music, and incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from African-American culture. The tradition encompasses not only the musical forms—characterized by blue notes, call-and-response patterns, and the twelve-bar structure—but also the ethos of honest emotional expression, communal healing, and resilience in the face of suffering.
Contrary to what some people believe, the blues is not “slave music.” Although it was cultivated by the descendants of slaves, the blues was the expression of freed African Americans. Blues songs are lyrical rather than narrative; blues singers are expressing feelings rather than telling stories. The emotion expressed is generally one of sadness or melancholy, often due to problems of love but also oppression and hard times. Beyond its musical structure, Blues Tradition represents a wisdom practice—what theologian James Cone called “secular spirituals”—functioning as a form of emotional alchemy and communal testimony.
Origins & Lineage
The beginnings of the blues can be traced to the late 1860s, arguably the most vicious and violent period in the United States. Vigilante justice was at an all-time high, and by 1889, the lynching of African Americans surged dramatically. African Americans invented and nurtured blues right from its beginnings in the Deep South as a recognizable musical genre in the 1890s, believed to have originated in the cotton plantations, especially in the Mississippi Delta (although its lyrical and melodic roots undeniably lie in the songs brought over to the United States by enslaved Africans).
Blues historians such as Paul Oliver and Samuel Charters have suggested that the essential elements of the blues originated in the Sahel region of West Africa, brought over by Africans via the slave trade. Many of the slaves brought to North America were from the Sahel region and more familiar with stringed instruments. The historian Sylviane Diouf and ethnomusicologist Gerhard Kubik identify Islamic music as an influence on blues music, noting a striking resemblance between the Islamic call to prayer and 19th-century field holler music.
The first publication of blues sheet music was in 1908. In 1912, Black bandleader W.C. Handy’s composition “Memphis Blues” was published. One of the first professional blues singers was Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, who claimed to have coined the term blues. Classic female urban or vaudeville blues singers were popular in the 1920s, among them Mamie Smith, Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Victoria Spivey. In 1926 a record company scout took a chance on a blind Texas street guitarist named Lemon Jefferson, whose guitar rhythms were jerky and irregular, and he sang with a deep Texas accent and a shout that could be heard over noisy street crowds.
Robert Johnson (1911-1938) became one of the tradition’s most iconic figures. Robert Johnson recorded 29 songs between 1936 and '37 for the American Record Corporation, leaving songs like “Cross Road Blues,” “Sweet Home Chicago,” and “Love in Vain” as enduring anthems.
How It’s Practiced
Blues Tradition manifests in performance contexts ranging from intimate to communal. Most of the early, rural/folk blues singer-guitarists did not specialize in blues only. They also performed Black folksongs, religious music, and popular songs of the day, depending on the audience and the occasion. They thought of themselves as “songsters,” or “musicianers,” rather than as blues singers.
Musically, the blues form is characterized by the call-and-response pattern, the blues scale, and specific chord progressions, of which the twelve-bar blues is the most common. Blue notes (or “worried notes”), usually thirds, fifths or sevenths flattened in pitch, are also an essential part of the sound. It was usually one singer accompanied by a guitar and characterized by “bent” or “blue” notes, not on the standard scale.
Blues performances carry spiritual and ritualistic dimensions. The call-and-response between the artist and the audience, the communal energy that permeates the space, and the shared emotional journey all contribute to the sense of a musical ceremony. In these moments, the boundaries between the earthly and the spiritual blur, and the blues become a shared spiritual experience.
Blues Tradition Today
The tradition continues through multiple channels. Blues subgenres include country blues, Delta blues and Piedmont blues, as well as urban blues styles such as Chicago blues and West Coast blues. World War II marked the transition from acoustic to electric blues and the progressive opening of blues music to a wider audience, especially white listeners. The simple but expressive forms of the blues became by the 1960s one of the most important influences on the development of popular music—namely, jazz, rhythm and blues, rock, and country music—throughout the United States.
Contemporary seekers encounter Blues Tradition through live performances at blues festivals and clubs, recordings spanning from 1920s field recordings to modern electric blues, and through its influence on virtually all American popular music. Blues societies and educational programs preserve the lineage, while artists like Keb Mo, Ruthie Foster, and The Blind Boys of Alabama carry the tradition forward.
Common Misconceptions
Blues is not synonymous with depression or wallowing. The blues was like vaccine, or a homeopathic remedy, giving you little doses of heartache lyrically, so you’d be able to withstand and understand the real heartbreak a little better, later. The tradition encompasses joy, humor, sensuality, and defiance as much as sorrow.
Blues is not primitive or simplistic. To the uninitiated, Johnson’s recordings may sound like just another dusty Delta blues musician wailing away. But a careful listen reveals that Johnson was a revisionist in his time… Johnson’s tortured soul vocals and anxiety-ridden guitar playing aren’t found in the cotton-field blues of his contemporaries.
Blues was not created by or for white audiences, though it has been widely adopted. Recorded blues and country music can be found as far back as the 1920s, when the record industry created the marketing categories “race music” and “hillbilly music” to sell music by blacks for blacks and by whites for whites, respectively. At the time, there was no clear musical division between “blues” and “country,” except for the ethnicity of the performer.
How to Begin
Start with foundational recordings: Robert Johnson’s King of the Delta Blues Singers (1961), Bessie Smith’s 1920s recordings, or Muddy Waters’ Chicago blues from the 1950s. Seek out live blues performances at local clubs or festivals to experience the communal dimension. Explore the connection between blues and spirituals by listening to gospel-blues artists like Sister Rosetta Tharpe or contemporary practitioners like Ruthie Foster. Consider Paul Oliver’s Blues Fell This Morning: The Meaning of the Blues (1960) for scholarly context, or attend workshops offered by blues societies and cultural centers that teach the musical forms and historical context of this living tradition.