whats meaning of these genres ?
i mean how they sing ?
chicago blues-country blues-delta blues-east coast blues-electric blues-jump blues-louisiana blues-memphis blues and texas blues The differences don't really lie in singing styles, they lie in instrumentation and playing styles.
Blues can be roughly divided into city blues and country blues. While the principle difference is electrification of instruments (which opened up a whole new range of sounds), there were also new topics being sung about. As blacks moved north to Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, etc., songs about field work, mules, picking cotton, became irrelevant to the musicians and the audience. Muddy Waters was one of the first to begin singing blues about urban life.
Delta blues refers to a style played by musicians from the southern part of Mississippi, where the Mississippi river delta had soil that was ideal for cotton (and not much else). One of the characteristics is the use of slides, and a drone string.
Texas Blues is known for single string guitar playing. Listen to Blind Lemon Jefferson, T-Bone Walker. (Although from Mississippi, B.B. King's big influences on guitar were T-Bone Walker and three Jazz guitarists; Eddie Lang, Charlie Christian, and Django Reinhardt, that's why his style is more Texas than Mississippi)
Piedmont Blues refers to musicians from the Piedmont region of Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia. It is known for intricate fingerpicking. Major artist are a lot of blind guys :)
Blind Blake, Blind Willie McTell, Blind Boy Fuller, etc.
Louisiana Blues has a distinct "laid back" style (just like the people-damn I love that place, they know how to live), with a delayed beat. Try Slim Harpo, Lazy Lester, Lightnin' Slim, Lonesome Sundown.
Jump Blues is actually more of a form of Jazz. Following World War II, the big bands coulld not make enough money to keep touring/stay together. Band leaders downsized their groups to a handful of musicians, which meant they could no longer play their old charts (arrangements). They were forced to develop a new sound which featured tenor sax as a predominant "voice", and a shouting vocal style. Jump Blues is one of the "parents" of Rock & Roll. Try Louis Jordan, Amos Milburn, Roy Brown, Smiley Lewis, Wynonnie Harris, Big Joe Turner.
Kansas City Blues, Memphis Blues, St. Louis blues are really just a convenient way to lump together musicians who happened to live in the same city.
GOOD LUCK :)
P.S. Blues did not start during the "slave era". Emancipation predates the blues by about thirty years. Chicago - All electric up beat
Delta - String (old gospel beats just change Jesus to baby)
Louisiana - Jambalya of many infused (Cajun, Zydeco, Jazz)
Memphis - Add the horns to the delta.
Blues started in Missippi during the slave era and as they were free the music spread to the north, then east and west. Mostly because they are the regions where each of these styles originated.
If you can, watch the Martin Scorcesse documentaries on the blues and you will hear some of the different styles. The standard progressions are consistent. Regional influences like horns, all electric, all acoustic,slides or string bending define a genre. |
