[gravitas]

Chicago Blues, Delta Blues, Mississipi Blues... What's the difference? I've heard the names bandied around a lot, and surely enjoying playing blues. But what makes Chicago different from Barrelhouse Blues? Delta from Mississipi? Are there other Blueses (that's right, blueses) that we should know about?

[Kirk Lorange]

Originally Posted by gravitas

Chicago Blues, Delta Blues, Mississipi Blues... What's the difference? I've heard the names bandied around a lot, and surely enjoying playing blues. But what makes Chicago different from Barrelhouse Blues? Delta from Mississipi? Are there other Blueses (that's right, blueses) that we should know about?

I've always thought the same thing!

[gravitas]

Hm... I think I should do some research. Maybe I can find some sites.

[allthumbs]

broad subject. Mississippi blues and Delta blues are the same thing I think. The delta being Mississippi river delta. This is the birth place of the blues. Robert Johnson, Blind Willie McTell Son House, Bukka White, Mississippi Fred McDowel and R. Johnson of course.
Chicago blues began on the great migrations north after th collapse of slavery and the 30s depression. Started with rent parties and became more common for a band situation to start. A side note. This was also the birth place of rap. It was called the dirty dozens and basically was a rhyming way of insulting the dickens out of each other. Chicago is the birthplace of electric blues. Skip James played the first electric slide tune ever in Chicago though it could be argued he was a Delta man. Muddy Waters is probably the most well known Chigago blues man. The Chicago blues was the introduction for most white Americans to the blues. Tampa Red was a very popular acoustic slide player on the radio at that time. He focused on songs that would appeal to a broader audience. The white folks who were listening to black blues radio stations more and more. He sang a lot about sexual innuendo.LOL
Texas blues. SRV,Blind Lemon Jefferson,Mance Lipscombs. Lightnin Hopkins etc. Lightnin and SRV typify that driving shuffle pattern that is the trademark of Texas blues. A lot of regions had blues players that moved up from the delta so the location is more an identification than a blues style. Ie Memphis blues and BB.King. There was for a time in Kansas City a couple of great players who played blues violins which sounded awsome,wish I still had that recording. There are thousands of books on this subject. A google search will bury you in sites.
A couple of odds and ends. Barrel house blues were basically high energy blues you would expect to find in Black bar that had its' booze poured straight from the barrel.
The Delta blues people were unschooled in music so had some odd song structures,As many bars as they wanted often odd numbers. The lyrics could be highly explicit. By the time blues had hit Chicago players were more aware of song structure and the lyrical content was toned down.
I hope I got most of this straight, I haven't thought about this stuff for years. I do have the right players in the right places though.

[Andy S]

AT,

Whew! Nicely done! There was a show on PBS about the blues, I think two years ago that covered some of that. Man! You are thorough! That was a terrific primer on Blues! Makes me want to go look for an old web site that featured all types of blues and had a weekly sampling. It was still available just a few months ago, but there was no more new samples.

Ya got me going AT!!

[justinthyme]

AT, thanks for that fascinating background. Its certainly interesting how this genre of music developed - you could develop a whole hobby round investigating it, I'm sure.

As a matter of interest, I wonder if a person can *truly* play the blues if their worries in life don't compare to those ole Mississippi blues originators? As for me - I currently have the tax audit blues ... gotta be a song or two in there somewhere!

Anyway ... back to the shapes.

[allthumbs]

Originally Posted by justinthyme

AT, thanks for that fascinating background. Its certainly interesting how this genre of music developed - you could develop a whole hobby round investigating it, I'm sure.

As a matter of interest, I wonder if a person can *truly* play the blues if their worries in life don't compare to those ole Mississippi blues originators? As for me - I currently have the tax audit blues ... gotta be a song or two in there somewhere!

Anyway ... back to the shapes.

The blues connects with what your feeling. Anyone can have the blues. Blues can be happy too. It is not always about being down.

[Kirk Lorange]

Thanks, AT!

[danthelion]

I hope this adds greatly to the meaningful comments above

http://www.acousticfingerstyle.com/singblus.htm

Kiwi Dan

[allthumbs]

Originally Posted by danthelion

I hope this adds greatly to the meaningful comments above

http://www.acousticfingerstyle.com/singblus.htm

Kiwi Dan

Seen thart before. Still funny I am trying to imagine a valley girl singing the blues."I got like the blues totaly,I'm like so 5 minutes ago."

[bluesguy]

Ah a subject near and dear to my heart. First of all Allthumbs did a nice job on his Cliff notes on the blues . I would suggest you check out my web site for an extensive set of links to other blues sites and blues musicians I personally like (plus photos). I would also suggest this http://www.thebluehighway.com/ as a good starting place.

If you want to learn a whole lot more about the blues there is a great blues forum called Blindman Blues Forum at http://blindman.forumhoster.com/index.php?

BTW: The great Albert King said many times "Everyone gets the blues". People like Buddy Guy & B. B. King have made it clear that enjoying the blues and playing the blues isn't about what color your skin is but whether you have the feeling for the blues (empathy).

[gravitas]

You guys seem to have done a better job than I did, mainly because you did the job to begin with. Good stuff.

Oh, come one, this can not be the closest thing to a Blues emoticon we've got: