3A: Muddy Waters
The blues is a form of music popularized in the early 1900s in the American South. Mississippi is considered the home of the blues. (Question 1 — Can you find Mississippi on a map?)
The music was created by poor African-Americans. It was based on spirituals (old religious songs), field hollers (songs that people chanted while working in fields, mines, and in railroads) and work songs.
Here’s an example of a work song. Notice how they sing in rhythm with the chopping of their work tools.
The main instrument used in early blues was an acoustic guitar. (Acoustic means it wasn’t amplified.) Acoustic blues is also known as the Delta blues – taken from the Delta region of Mississippi, where it started.
The blues is characterized by its sad lyrics, a repetitive rhythm, and singing style that either wails or talks. Listen to this song, “Me and the Devil Blues,” by Robert Johnson in 1938.
Many bluesmen had funny nicknames, like Blind Lemon Jefferson, Howlin’ Wolf, Lightin’ Hopkins, Lead Belly, Barbecue Bob Hicks, and Sleepy John Estes. Listen to “Match Box Blues” by Blind Lemon Jefferson, in 1937.
One of the first blues musicians to play an electric (amplified) guitar was Muddy Waters. He was born in Mississippi in 1913. He learned to sing in church.
He moved to Chicago when he was 30. (Question 1 — Which Great Lake is Chicago by?) Chicago was a big, noisy city. “Couldn’t nobody hear you with an acoustic,” he said. So, he bought an electric guitar.
That’s Muddy Waters on the right.
That’s when “the electric blues” started. Just like the South is the home to Delta blues, Chicago is the birthplace of electric blues.
Listen to Muddy Waters sing “Hoochie Coochie Man” in 1954. Notice how the rhythm repeats itself. How many instruments can you hear in this song?
Here’s a short interview with Muddy Waters from 1971.
Answers:
1 — Mississippi is in the American South. It’s between Louisiana and Alabama.
2 — Chicago is by Lake Michigan, one of five Great Lakes.