If you ask most people what they know about the Blues as a genre of music, they might tell you that it makes them feel sad and is a beautiful expression of emotion, but that’s about it. However, there’s a lot more about the blues that you need to know.

This musical genre has a deep and rich history behind it, and the deeper you go, the more there is to uncover about the Blues and the people who sing them.

The Origins of Mississippi Delta Blues

First, this is where the blues got started, so it makes sense to know the history of Mississippi Delta Blues music. It’s acoustic, raw, and soulful.

The blues was often sung by slaves and plantation workers who were sharecroppers and cotton pickers around Clarksdale Mississippi and Helena Arkansas. They would sing about the emotions going on with them, as well as the homes that they had been taken from. Most of the early pioneers of the blues genre were African, and when it was discovered that they could use drums to communicate with one another, they were banned from having instruments. So the blues actually started as Acappella music on the fields, until the slaves and workers moved to different parts of the country and began not only picking their own instruments back up but also finding the instruments of different locations.

Blues Has Many Different Sub-Genres

Blues music might have started in the delta, but whenever the blues singers found themselves moving from place to place, they adapted their music to what was around them to create new sounds. Now Blues music has countless different types of sub-genres, and many of them are location-based.

Chicago Blues, for example, was created whenever the practitioners of the blues went up north to find a better life. The blues that they sang in Chicago needed to be filled with energy and needed to be much louder in order for the singers to be heard in rowdy Chicago clubs, and it is still quite popular.

Memphis Blues was also created by blues singers heading to Memphis, and they easily adapted to the other entertainment styles of the city. Including vaudeville style, country style, jug band music, and of course jazz. There are a lot of different sub-genres and blends of blues with other types of music, so if you like the blues from one area, try to broaden your scope and see what else you can find.

The Blues Are Packed With Emotion And Stories

Whether they are singing about lost love, lost hope, loneliness, or injustice, it’s pretty easy to have the blues make you feel a little blue too. The blues are songs that are designed to make you feel an emotion and to make you listen to a story. Plus, many of the lyrics also have double meanings and metaphors, both to make you think, and also because when the songs were sung on the fields those double meanings hid the understanding of the song from their masters.

Jazz and Blues Are Similar, But Not The Same

Finally, there’s often confusion between Jazz and Blues, but they are not the same thing. Yes they are very similar and yes they are also able to be mixed together really well, but Jazz is a massive combination of different instruments and sounds, while blues is often a single singer with an instrument. However, if you like one you will also likely like the other, and you can easily find songs that are essentially blues and jazz music melded together. Because that makes a great combination for everyone!