Music of the South

Country music originated in the 1920s in Tennessee. The genre was influenced by folk music from the Appalachian Mountains and revolved around themes of love, faith,

Southern music known today as country music became popular in the 1920’s. This was music that was based on folk music of cowboys in the southeast (Collins English Dictionary, 2003). In most of the early music the artist played stringed instruments like fiddles, guitars, banjos and some were even playing harmonicas. When this type of music started some people called it

Known as the “Empress Of Blues”, Bessie Smith was said to have revolutionized the vocal end of Blues Music. She showed a lot of pride as an independent African-American woman. Her style in performance and lyrics often reflected her lifestyle. Bessie Smith was one of the first female jazz artists, and she paved the way for many musicians who followed.

The Blues also became a hit in the 1920s after Mamie Smith recorded “Crazy Blues” and it grew into a huge part of the Jazz Industry. African Americans were given credit for the creation of the Blues industry of music as well. Bessie Smith was known as the “most famous of the 1920s Blues singers.”

The blues is home to many world famous artists such as Riley B. King, also known as B.B King, and McKinley Morganfield, also known as Muddy Waters. These artists were two very good examples of what the blues is meant to incorporate and their legacy has and will live long passed their deaths. B.B King is an American blue musician, singer, songwriter and guitarist, born on September 16th, 1925 in Beclair, Mississippi. He is considered to be one of the most influential blues musicians of all times, giving him the nicknames “The King of the Blues” as

     Joe Louis was born in Alabama on May 13, 1914. He was the son of an Alabama sharecropper, the great grandson of a slave, and the great great grandson of a white slave owner.

Music is such a beautiful creation, the way the melody, rhythm, tempo, all mix together to become a masterpiece. One specific genre of music, the blues, was heavily popular in the early 20th century. The blues is a tradition-oriented music style from the rural Southern African-American origin (“Jazz in America”, n.d. ). It usually had secular content, which is disparate from how it was when it first began. Blues music originated in plantations, where slaves sung, using it as a mental escape method from their oppression. Even though it started off in a simple way, it eventually turned into a serious entertainment. Bessie Smith and Billie Holliday, two well-known blues female singers, became hit sensations.

Country music as a whole has developed from hillbilly boogie, to honky tonk, to what we commonly hear on the radio today as Nashville sound, or country pop. The honky tonk

On May 26, 1949 a country music icon was born, but no one knew at the time. Hank Williams Jr, was born in Shreveport, Louisiana to a loving, country family. Hank Williams Jr, dad is Hank Williams Sr, who was also a country singer but died at a very young age. Hank followed behind his dad and looked up to him, so he became a country singer. He began singing at a young age, his dad died when he was four and he started singing at the age of eight years old. He pursued his country singing at a young age and appeared on the Grand Ole Opry singing one of his dad’s hit songs.

Many famous people were born in Mississippi. From civil rights activists to writers and musicians the rich history of Mississippi is strong. Well known blues musician Robert Leroy Johnson had a very short life but his music still effected the world of music today. James Meredith a civil rights activist and the first African American to go to Mississippi state university also lived there. Shelby Foote a famous writer was born in Mississippi but spent a lot of his life traveling.

After writing songs and not being able to reap the financial benefits, in 1912, Handy and an investment banker by the name of Harry Pace established a music publishing company called, “Pace and Handy Publishing.” By 1917, Handy moved to New York and located his company in the south end of Manhattan, New York called, “Tin Pan Alley.” Throughout the 1920s, Handy continued to promote the blues to large audiences by editing the book Blues: An Anthropology (1926) and organizing the first blues performance at Carnegie Hall in New York city in 1928. He continued to work throughout the 1930s and the early 1940s, but by the mid-1940s, Handy was completely blind due to a skull fracture from falling of a train platform (Biography.com Editors). Due to a stroke in 1955, Handy spent the last three years of his life in a wheelchair, but his last public appearance was November 17, 1957 at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. This birthday party honoring Handy was attended by 800 actors, musicians and public personalities, which also, included telegrams from President Eisenhower and Vice President Nixon (New York Times). Handy died a few months later on March 28, 1958, in Harlem, New York due to pneumonia. His funeral was attended by more than 20,000 people and hundreds more stood outside the church to honor him. Soon after his death, a movie about his life, St. Louis Blues (1958) played in theaters all across America featuring stars like, Nat King Cole, Eartha Kitt, Cab Calloway and Pearl Bailey (Biography.com

American Music is a melting pot of different cultures, emotions, experiences, and therefore genres. It is incredible to see how as music evolves and changes with the time, so does The United States. We are a mixed bag as a country, accepting all different cultures and backgrounds. This has led to many breakthroughs and innovations in music throughout history. We are all influenced by our experiences in life and this is no different in the evolution of music in American History. The Blues was created from African American Slave songs, with lyrics that narrate the hardships of the human experience at the time. These rhythms and forms carried over and eventually created what is now Rock and Roll. Over the next five weeks, we will explore and discover five key genres and artists who are known to specialize in that genre as a way to reconnect with our history and explore the possibilities for innovation in music in the future.

Charley Patton is known as the father of the delta Blue. His official year of birth is unknown but is speculated to be between 1887, 1891. He wasn’t born in the Mississippi Delta however, his family moved there and he spent much of his life there. I believe his Blues came from the fact he was of mixed heritage having black, Cherokee Nation and certainly not in the dominant whit culture. His family moved to the Dockery Plantation which was renowned for its favorable treatment of it sharecroppers and lenience on the musical indulgences of its residents. At the Dockery Plantation, Patton and other gave birth to the Delta Blues. He learned from a man named Henry Sloan who played what is viewed as an early Blues style. He influenced many other artists at the Dockery plantation including younger protégé‘s like Robert Johnson and Howling Wolf. Although Patton as of diminutive stature, he had a gritty, growly voice of a much bigger man which is said to have influenced the distinctive raspy voice of Wolf.

He was born in Coopersville, Michigan as Charles Westover and learned to play the guitar otherwise he’d have followed

Eddie James “Son” House, Jr., an American blues singer and guitarist once stated, "People keep asking me where the blues started and all I can say is that when I was a boy we always was singing in the fields. Not real singing, you know, just hollerin', but we made up our songs about things that was happening to us at the time, and I think that's where the blues started (Cohn, 1993).”