Shovels & Rope - O' Be Joyful

Blues originated in the Delta region of Mississippi sometime after the Civil War (late 1800s). African American work songs, spirituals, and field hollers formed the basis of blues. Blues was originally a rural music, played by individuals on low cost and easily available instruments such as a harmonica or a guitar played with a slide. The songs were originally slow laments with flatted notes or blue notes, which gave it a completely different sound than European music.

Eventually, the song structure, when combined with European music elements, solidified into a 12 bar blues pattern, with an AAB lyric pattern. In this type of lyric pattern, the first line is sung, the second line repeats it, then the third line resolves the thought. In between the vocal lines, a space is left for the instrument to respond. This is called “call and response”. Call and response can also be between the main singer and background singers, or between two musical instruments.

Any kind of song can be played in a jazz style, including blues songs, therefore there is a lot wider variation in song structure in jazz. In general, jazz is not about what is played, it’s about how it’s played.
Source: The Difference Between Blues and Jazz

Shovels & Rope - O' Be Joyful

• Released: July 31, 2012
• First official release under the band name Shovel & Rope
• Genre: Alternative, Folk, Rock

"Shovels & Rope make music that exudes raw beauty, honesty, grit and passion. Hard work does pay off; the band spent the better part of 2012 and 2013 touring almost non-stop, spreading their signature blend of rock, country, punk and folk to the masses."


Emily Jane White - Silhouette

• From Demos & B-Sides Volume I
• Released: May 1, 2020
• Written by: Emily Jane White
• Vocals & Piano by: Emily Jane White

"Some of Emily White’s first musical explorations came as a member of punk and metal bands in college. She later branched off with her own group called Diamond Star Halos, and made her biggest leaps as a writer during a post-college trip to Bordeaux, France."

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