c. 1900s–1910sPrimary sourceWell documented
The Blues
On the timeline · around c. 1900s–1910s · The Recording Age
What happened
In the Mississippi Delta and the Deep South, African American work songs, field hollers, spirituals, and ballads coalesced into a new music: the blues, built on soulful vocals, bent 'blue' notes, and a distinctive twelve-bar form. The bandleader W. C. Handy, who first heard it at a Mississippi train station around 1903, published 'Memphis Blues' in 1912 and became known as the 'Father of the Blues.'
Why it matters
The blues is the taproot of twentieth-century popular music. Jazz, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, soul, and hip-hop all draw directly on its forms and feeling — making it one of the most influential traditions ever created.