Blues

Blues is a music genre and form that originated in African American communities in the Southern United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It grew out of a blend of African American spirituals, work songs, field hollers, and European musical elements, and developed most prominently in the Mississippi Delta and surrounding regions. The term blues refers to both a mood and a musical structure, characterized by expressive lyricism and a distinctive melodic approach based on the blues scale and blue notes, which include flattened thirds and sevenths (and sometimes other tones).

Musical features commonly include a fixed chord progression, most often the 12-bar pattern, typically using three chords in major or minor arrangements. The music emphasizes call-and-response phrasing, improvisation, and vocal or instrumental storytelling. Instrumentation has varied over time, from acoustic guitar, harmonica, and voice in early styles to electric guitar, piano, bass, and drums in urban recordings.

Regional styles developed with the evolution of the genre. Delta blues emphasized acoustic guitar and bottleneck technique; Chicago blues brought electric guitars and amplified harmonies as players migrated north; Texas and Piedmont blues offered different guitar approaches and singing styles. The postwar period saw blues artists such as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, B.B. King, and Willie Dixon shaping urban blues and influencing rock and roll and other genres.

Blues has had a profound global influence, informing jazz, rock, soul, and hip-hop. It remains a living tradition with both archival recordings and contemporary performers exploring traditional forms and new expressions. Blues scholarship covers its history, forms, and cultural significance as a marker of African American artistic innovation and resilience.