Country Blues Music: History and Artists of Country Blues

Country blues is a style of blues music that developed in rural America—particularly the Mississippi Delta region—in the early twentieth century. Also called folk blues, it was commonly performed by Black American singers accompanying themselves on acoustic guitar.

The country blues artists found throughout the Deep South and Texas provided the foundation for urban blues musicians, and eventually rock and R&B, decades later.

Country blues has enjoyed a dedicated audience since its emergence in the early 1900s:

• Origins in African music and work songs: The musical roots of rural blues trace back to the "field hollers" of enslaved Black people who worked in the fields of the American South. Prison chain gangs also used similar "hollers" with a call-and-response form. The singing likely had its own roots in folk music from West Africa.
• Mississippi Delta music: The earliest record of blues music comes from the Mississippi River region between Memphis and New Orleans in the early 1900s. Delta blues music was played by acoustic guitarists who sang in a 12-bar form similar to the prevailing blues style of the present day. Some also played the harmonica.
• Documented in field recordings: Pioneering music archivists Lawrence Gellert, Robert W. Gordon, John Lomax, and Alan Lomax (John's son) traveled to the American South to record acoustic blues musicians. Many of these recordings ended up in the Library of Congress’s Archive of American Folk Songs (now called Archive of Folk Culture). Delta bluesmen Charley Patton, Muddy Waters, Bukka White, Mississippi John Hurt, Mississippi Fred McDowell, John Lee Hooker, Furry Lewis, Son House were among the artists who appeared on these early recordings.
• Beyond the Delta: Country blues music was not limited to the Mississippi Delta. Georgians Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Blind Willie McTell, and Blind Boy Fuller all made their mark on blues music in the early twentieth century. A regional style called Piedmont blues involved precise guitar fingerpicking that mimicked the stride piano sound of urban blues and jazz. In Texas, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Robert Johnson (who was born in Mississippi) brought musical virtuosity to the blues genre.
• Transition to urban blues: As the twentieth century progressed, blues musicians began migrating to cities and shifting to electric guitar with backing bands. Big Bill Broonzy, who played country blues in rural Arkansas, eventually made his name as an urban artist in Chicago. Willie Dixon, the author of countless blues standards, also left Mississippi for Chicago as a young man. Reverend Gary Davis started as a Piedmont blues guitarist but later moved on to New York City where he found his greatest fame. Still, other players chose urban homes but remained in the South, like Sleepy John Estes, based in Memphis.
• Revivals: In the second half of the twentieth century, electric players like B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf, and Buddy Guy ruled the blues charts. However, many country blues players gained new attention and played revival tours. Mississippi Fred McDowell, John Lee Hooker, and Son House were among the many blues artists who achieved greater fame during their revival period than when they first came on the scene. In many cases, these artists switched to electric guitar to keep up with the times.

Country blues is known for several defining characteristics:

• Solo performances: Most country blues artists performed solo, accompanying themselves on acoustic guitar.
• Acoustic instruments: The Mississippi Delta and its surroundings did not enjoy the benefit of electricity in the early days of the blues. As such, country blues music was played exclusively on acoustic instruments—even after electric guitars and amplifiers came into fashion in the 1940s.
• Familiar song structure: The 12-bar and 16-bar blues forms common today were also popular in the early days of country blues.
• Regional differences: Country blues centered in the American South, but different regions produced different idiomatic traits. The Piedmont blues of Georgia and North Carolina was known for their fingerpicking patterns. Many Delta players specialized in slide guitar—often using a beer bottle as a slide.

Many country blues songs have enjoyed canonical status in the United States:

1. 1. "Walkin' Blues" by Son House: A Son House original that begins with the oft-imitated line "I woke up this morning..."
2. 2. "Pony Blues" by Charley Patton: Recorded in 1929 in Patton's first formal studio session, it helped solidify the sound of Delta blues music. Patton died five years later at the age of 43.
3. 3. "Sweet Home Chicago" by Robert Johnson: Johnson was not commercially successful in his own lifetime, but today he is revered as a guitar legend and a crucial figure in country blues history. Johnson was from Mississippi but made all of his known recordings in Texas—emblematic of his itinerant lifestyle.
4. 4. "Candy Man" by Mississippi John Hurt: An overtly sexual country blues song that demonstrates that the genre, however dignified, was not above a coarse metaphor.
5. 5. "Lord, Send Me an Angel" by Blind Willie McTell: A classic example of Piedmont blues that found a new audience when The White Stripes covered it in 2000—67 years after it was written.

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