Memphis Blues. Memphis played an important role in the development of electric blues, rock and roll, blues rock, and heavy metal music.[1] History[edit] In addition to guitar-based blues, jug bands, such as Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers and the Memphis Jug Band, were extremely popular practitioners of Memphis blues.
The jug band style emphasized the danceable, syncopated rhythms of early jazz and a range of other archaic folk styles. Detroit Blues. Chicago Blues. The two most significant cities for urban blues were Chicago and St.
Louis. Urban blues started in these cities as music created by part-time musicians playing as street musicians, at rent parties, and other events within the black community. For example, bottleneck guitarist Kokomo Arnold was a steelworker and had a moonshine business that was far more profitable than his music.[2] One of the most important early incubators for Chicago blues was the open air market on Maxwell street. The Maxwell street market was one of the largest open air markets in the nation.
What drove the blues to international influence was the promotion of record companies such as Paramount Records, RCA Victor, and Columbia Records. [4] Through such record companies Chicago blues became a commercial enterprise. Notable musicians[edit] Guitarist Buddy Guy performing at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in 2006. Notable record labels[edit] Bluebird Records[edit] Texas Blues. Texas blues is a subgenre of blues.
It has had various style variations but typically has been played with more swing than other blues styles. Texas blues differs from styles such as Chicago blues in its use of instruments and sounds, especially the heavy use of the guitar. Musicians such as Stevie Ray Vaughan contributed by using various types of guitar sounds like southern slide guitar and different melodies of blues and jazz. Texas blues also relies on guitar solos or "licks" as bridges in songs. History[edit] Texas Blues began to appear in the early 1900s among African Americans who worked in oilfields, ranches and lumber camps. Louisiana Blues. Louisiana blues is a genre of blues music that developed in the period after World War II in the state of Louisiana.
It is generally divided into two major sub-genres, with the jazz-influenced New Orleans blues based around the city and the slower tempo swamp blues incorporating influences from zydeco and Cajun music from around Baton Rouge.[1] Major artists in the New Orleans tradition include Professor Longhair and Guitar Slim and for swamp blues Slim Harpo and Lightnin' Slim. Both genres peaked in popularity in the 1960s and were covered by a number of rock artists. Interest declined in the later 1960s but there have been occasional revivals since the 1970s.
Swamp Blues. Swamp blues, sometimes the Excello sound,[1] is a sub-genre of blues music and a variation of Louisiana blues that developed around Baton Rouge in the 1950s and which reached a peak of popularity in the 1960s.
It generally has a slow tempo and incorporates influences from other genres of music, particularly the regional styles of zydeco and Cajun music. Its most successful proponents included Slim Harpo and Lightnin' Slim, who enjoyed a number of national rhythm and blues hits and whose work was frequently covered by bands of the British Invasion. Characteristics[edit] Swamp blues is a laid-back, slow tempo, and generally more rhythmic variation of Louisiana blues, that incorporates influences from New Orleans blues, zydeco, soul music and Cajun music.
Piedmont Blues. Piedmont blues (also known as East Coast, or Southeastern blues) refers primarily to a guitar style, the Piedmont fingerstyle, which is characterized by a fingerpicking approach in which a regular, alternating thumb bass string rhythmic pattern[1] supports a syncopated melody using the treble strings generally picked with the fore-finger, occasionally others.[2] The result is comparable in sound to ragtime or stride piano styles.[2] The term was coined by blues researcher Peter B.
Lowry,[3] who in turn gives co-credit to fellow folklorist Bruce Bastin. The Piedmont style is differentiated from other styles, particularly the Mississippi Delta blues, by its ragtime-based rhythms.[1] Origins[edit] The basis of the Piedmont style began with the older "frailing" or "framming" guitar styles that may have been universal throughout the South, and was also based, at least to some extent, on formal "parlor guitar" techniques as well as earlier banjo playing, string band, and ragtime.