Delta Blues History
The Delta blues is one of the earliest styles of blues
music. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, a region
of the United States that stretches from Memphis, Tennessee
in the north to Vicksburg, Mississippi in the south, the
Mississippi River on the west to the Yazoo River on the
east. The Mississippi Delta area is famous both for its
fertile soil and its extreme poverty. Guitar and harmonica
are the dominant instruments used. The vocal styles range
from introspective and soulful to passionate and fiery.
Delta blues music was first recorded in the late 1920s.
The early recordings consist mostly of one person singing
and playing an instrument, though the use of a band was
more common during live performances. The recording of early
Delta blues (as well as other genres) owes much to John
Lomax, who criss-crossed the Southern US recording music
played and sung by ordinary people. His recordings number
in the thousands, and now reside in the Smithsonian Institution.
"Delta blues" is a style as much as a geographical
appellation: Skip James and Elmore James, who were not born
in the Delta, were considered Delta blues musicians. Performers
traveled throughout the Mississippi Delta Arkansas, Louisiana,
Texas, and Tennessee. Eventually, Delta blues spread out
across the country, giving rise to a host of regional variations,
including Chicago and Detroit blues.
Scholars disagree as to whether there is a substantial,
musicological difference between blues that originated in
this region and in other parts of the country. The defining
characteristic of Delta blues would seem to be instrumentation
and an emphasis on rhythm and "bottleneck" slide;
the basic harmonic structure is not substantially different
from that of blues performed elsewhere.
Because the Mississippi Delta was essentially "feudal"
in the 1920s and earlier, and the plantation system was
oppressive, there existed a subculture of blues artists
who were refugees from that system.
The Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman Farm was
an important influence on several blues musicians who were
imprisoned there, and was referenced in songs such as Bukka
White's 'Parchman Farm Blues' and the folk song 'Midnight
Special'. Thus Delta blues can refer to one of the first
pop-music subcultures as well as to a performing style.
Well Known Delta Blues Artists
* Ishman Bracey
* Willie Brown
* Sam Chatmon
* Bob Cobb
* James Cotton
* Mike Cross
* Arthur Crudup
* David Honeyboy Edwards (1915- )
* Earl Hooker
* Son House (1902-1988)
* John Lee Hooker (1917-2001) Pioneer of Detroit blues
* Mississippi John Hurt (1892-1966)
* Rubin Lacy (1901-1972)
* Skip James (1902-1969)
* Robert Johnson (1911-1938)
* Tommy Johnson Influenced by Charley Patton.
* Paul Jones
* Leadbelly (Huddie William Ledbetter) (1888-1949)
* Furry Lewis
* Robert Lockwood Jr.
* Robert Lowery
* Tommy McClennan
* Memphis Minnie
* Charley Patton (1891-1934) One of the first "stars"
of Delta blues.
* Paul Pena
* Snooky Pryor
* Johnny Shines
* Henry Sloan Mentor to Charley Patton
* Sunnyland Slim
* Hound Dog Taylor
* Muddy Waters (McKinley Morganfield) (1915-1983) Pioneer
of Chicago blues
* Bukka White
* Big Joe Williams
* Howlin' Wolf
Quotes about Delta Legend ROBERT JOHNSON [1911-38]
“Robert was tall, brown-skin, skinny, had one bad
eye. He looked out of one of his eyes; one eye looked like
it had a cataract—in that bad eye. At that time he
was playing on a Sears-Roebuck ‘Stella’ guitar.
Yeah, he was good.”
—David ‘Honeyboy’ Edwards
“We’d all play for the Saturday night balls,
and there’d be this little boy hanging around. That
was Robert Johnson. He blew a harmonica then and he was
pretty good at that, but he wanted to play guitar. He’d
sit at our feet and play during the breaks and such another
racket you’d never heard.”
—Son House
"Yes, Son House once answered a question about [Robert]
Johnson's speedy mastery of the guitar by suggesting that
he had sold his soul to the Devil, but House did not emphasize
the point with any seriousness, nor did he repeat it whenever
he told the story. And listen to Johnson's school friend
Willie Coffee. In the documentary Hellhounds on My Trail:
The Afterlife of Robert Johnson, the blues expert Steven
LaVere asks him if Johnson ever talked about selling his
soul to the Devil. Coffee says that yes, he did, then promptly
adds, 'I never did think he's serious, because he'd always,
when he'd come in here with us, he'd come in with a lot
of jive, cracking jokes like that. I never did believe in
it.'"
—Elijah Wald, Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson
and the Invention of the Blues, 2004
"He had developed a taste for booze, gambling, and
an occasional smoke, too, and although he never became habitual
with any of them, he did drink to excess more than a few
times. He couldn't handle his liquor at all, and when he
did drink too much, he would often talk loud, curse his
maker, and get in fights, but he was never a sloppy or messy
drunk! Sober, Robert Johnson frequently became a pensive
man. Often he could be found sitting alone in a deep study.
Over the years, his behavior became progressively moody
and erratic, but a drink or two, especially if he had purchased
them for himself and a few friends, transformed him into
the life of the party."
—Stephen C. LaVere, liner notes, Robert Johnson:
The Complete Recordings
