The original country or rural blues did not come to be recorded until around 1925, when the record companies realised they could make quite a profit by asking black farmers, who were at best semi professional musicians, to record a few songs for them in return for a little whisky and about $5 per song. The lady singers, being professional entertainers, of course requested more.
Thanks to this fortunate circumstance, we are now reasonably certain that the country blues originated from the Mississippi Delta, an area in the state of Mississippi which must not be confused with the Delta of the Mississippi river in Louisiana. Blacks here once made up over 90% of the population, and were heavily exploited and oppressed. Typically in this original form of the blues, a black sharecropper would sing about his hardships, while accompanying himself on the guitar. The rural blues also developed in the cotton growing region of East Texas, and through much of the South Eastern part of the USA.
After a period of hibernation in the 50's, the growing popularity of blues with young white audiences gave a lot of black blues singers the opportunity to play again on a larger scale, for more money than before.
Still, it is quite clear that today the blues, as an independent genre, is no longer considered as very fashionable. Yet with its easy to learn three chord structure, it is a convenient springboard for musical improvisation. It has had a wide influence on modern popular music of many varieties, and on musicians who wish to return to the roots of modern popular music before jumping off in another, perhaps new, direction.
Source: Music: The Story Of The Blues by Robert Springer
Della Reese - Yes Indeed
Thanks to this fortunate circumstance, we are now reasonably certain that the country blues originated from the Mississippi Delta, an area in the state of Mississippi which must not be confused with the Delta of the Mississippi river in Louisiana. Blacks here once made up over 90% of the population, and were heavily exploited and oppressed. Typically in this original form of the blues, a black sharecropper would sing about his hardships, while accompanying himself on the guitar. The rural blues also developed in the cotton growing region of East Texas, and through much of the South Eastern part of the USA.
After a period of hibernation in the 50's, the growing popularity of blues with young white audiences gave a lot of black blues singers the opportunity to play again on a larger scale, for more money than before.
Still, it is quite clear that today the blues, as an independent genre, is no longer considered as very fashionable. Yet with its easy to learn three chord structure, it is a convenient springboard for musical improvisation. It has had a wide influence on modern popular music of many varieties, and on musicians who wish to return to the roots of modern popular music before jumping off in another, perhaps new, direction.
Source: Music: The Story Of The Blues by Robert Springer
Della Reese - Yes Indeed
- Written by: Sy Oliver
- Genre: Jazz, Blues, Pop
- Released in: Feb 1954
"An actress, singer, talk show host, and author, the Dells Reese first started singing in church in her hometown of Detroit. By the age of 13, she was touring with gospel great Mahalia Jackson; then, at 18, she formed the Meditation Singers and became the first performer to bring gospel music to the casinos of Las Vegas."
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