![B.B. King. “The Thrill Is Gone”. Completely Well. ABC Records 1969. CD.
“Charley Patton's Grave.” Mississippi Blues Trail, Mississippi Blues Commission, msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/charley-pattons-grave.
“Howlin' Wolf - West Point.” Mississippi Blues Trail, Mississippi Blues Commission, msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/howlin-wolf.
Kopp, Ed. "A Brief History of the Blues." All About Jazz. 16 Aug. 2005. Web. 17 Sept. 2015.
King, Riley B. "'It Looked like a River of Fire': The Incredible Story behind Blues Legend BB King Naming His Guitars." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 15 May 2015. Web. 16 Oct. 2
“Map of the Counties in the Delta.” Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area, National Park Service, www.msdeltaheritage.com/counties/.
Muddy Waters. “Rollin' Stone.” Chess Records, Chicago, Illinois, Feb. 1950.
“Muddy Waters Birthplace - Rolling Fork.” Mississippi Blues Trail, Mississippi Blues Commission, msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/muddy-waters-birthplace.
Robert Johnson. “Hellhound On My Trail.” Dallas, Texas, 20 June 1937.
“Robert Johnson Gravesite - Greenwood.” Mississippi Blues Trail, Mississippi Blues Commission, msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/robert-johnson-gravesite.
“Robert Johnson – Hellhound On My Trail.” Genius, genius.com/Robert-johnson-hellhound-on-my-trail-annotated.
Smyers, Darryl. "If [Clapton] Says That I Am the Greatest Guitar Player Ever, Then Maybe I Am."Dallas Observer. 1 Sept. 2011. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.
Kopp, Ed. "A Brief History of the Blues." All About Jazz. 16 Aug. 2005. Web. 17 Sept. 2015.
“Son House-Tunica.” Mississippi Blues Trail, Mississippi Blues Commission, msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/son-house.
“Son House-Tunica.” Mississippi Blues Trail, Mississippi Blues Commission, msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/son-house.
“Sonny Boy Williamson - Glendora.” Mississippi Blues Trail, Mississippi Blues Commission, msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/sonny-boy-williamson.
Wilson, Christine. “Mississippi Blues.” Mississippi Blues | Mississippi History Now, Mississippi Historical Society, Aug. 2003, mshistorynow.mdah.state.ms.us/articles/41/mississippi-blues.
Wilcock, Don. "B.B. King Obituary - American Blues Scene Magazine." American Blues Scene. American Blues Scene Magazine, 15 May 2015. Web. 1 Dec. 2015. 015.
Works Cited](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/beanp3-1-171210233713/85/Bean-p3-1-13-320.jpg)
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- 1. THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA BLUES MOVEMENT An examination of the movement through the lives of Delta blues musicians By Thorvald Bean
- 2. Mississippi Delta Blues • The Blues was born in the Mississippi Delta (picture, region shaded in green), starting with the work songs of African American slaves and sharecroppers that eventually developed into songs based off of a 12 bar blues structure. The genre then spread out of the Delta and developed a variety of polyrhythms and tonalities that are the blues today. Understanding the ethnomusicological importance of the Delta Blues to American music and culture involves learning about the diverse stories and contributions from the musicians.
- 3. What is the blues? • While the blues is a musical genre, it also was a musical movement that shaped and reflected the cultures from where it came from. The blues is a feeling of deep internal struggle, a reflection on the emotional conflict of human life. “What is the blues? I’m gonna tell you what the blues is, When you ain’t got no money, you got the blues. When you ain’t got no money to pay the house rent, you still got the blues. A lot of people holler about, ‘I don’t like no blues’, but when you ain’t got no money and you can’t pay your house rent or buy no food, you damn sure got the blues. Any time you thinkin’ evil you thinking about the blues.” -Howlin’ Wolf (pictured poining left)
- 4. Delta Blues Musicians Charley Patton Charley Patton, born in 1891 in Hinds County Mississippi, was a defining icon and pioneer of the Delta Blues. Charley wooed audiences with his inimitable booming voice and storied songs that referenced characters, events, and locations in the Mississippi Delta. Patton was the first musician in the Mississippi Delta who made a living exclusively playing the Blues from his performances and records, and is deemed by the contemporary Blues Rock musician Jack White as, “the most important figure” to the Delta Blues movement. Patton’s rise to musical prominence arose from his tours where he travelled from plantation to plantation playing in local juke houses and dance halls. While touring Patton was notorious for swooning women and being unfavorable with plantation owners because, “workers would leave crops unattended to listen to him play.” Patton’s personality and exuberant showmanship such as his tendency to spin his guitar or play while holding it behind his head set the precedent for the flashy lifestyle of a Mississippi Delta Blues player. Despite Patton’s short career due to his death in 1934, his musical fluency across genres was broad, including gospel songs, country ballads, folk, pop, and the blues reflects Patton’s early instrumental mastery and credibility as a musician. Many blues artists such as Howlin’ Wolf and Robert Johnson credit Patton as their inspiration, cementing his place in Delta Blues History as a pioneer and major contributor.
- 5. Delta Blues Musicians Son House Eddie James “Son” House Jr. was a preacher, sharecropper and legendary Delta Blues guitarist and vocalist born in Lyon, Mississippi in 1902. Like many bluesman from the Delta, House grew up in poverty on a plantation and found escape learning to play guitar and sing gospel for his local church. At the time, the blues was considered culturally taboo. Because of the cultural stigmas behind the blues Son House struggled with the deep contrasts between church life and the life of a travelling Delta Blues artist. Son House was famous for his emotionally driving vocals and raw bottleneck slide guitar play on tracks such as “Death Letter”. On the simplistic track, “Grinnin’ In Your Face” Son House plays no instruments, but claps rhythmically paired with a vibrant and powerful vocal performance that captures his authentic grassroots blues style. While Son House’s musical career faded after he recorded his first few singles with Charley Patton and Paramount Records in 1930 due to the music business dissolving in response to the economic conditions of the Great Depression. Later Son House’s career was reinvigorated after the Blues Revival of the 1960’s, when Newsweek wrote an article on the bluesman’s forgotten work and how it inspired mainstream greats like Muddy Waters. Son House then went on to record a number of albums and tour before retiring and passing away in Detroit in 1988.
- 6. Delta Blues Musicians Robert Johnson A crucial member of the Delta Blues movement who according to legend sold his soul to the devil at the “Crossroads” of Highway 61 and 49 for his legendary guitar skills. Born in Hazlehurst, Mississippi Robert Johnson only recorded 29 songs, but fused the grassroots style of the early blues with an advanced technical guitar skillset that Son House claimed “He sold his soul to play like that.” He produced tracks such as, “Cross Road Blues” and “Hellhound On My Trail” that would be later covered by bands like Led Zeppelin and Eric Clapton. Robert Johnson’s life was brief and clouded in mystery, he only produced two albums and pictured to the left is one of the 2 only known photographs of him. However, Johnson’s influence is grandiose to say the least, directly catalyzing the careers of Delta bluesmen such as Muddy Waters and B.B. King. Robert Johnson toured from the Delta to Canada, making stops to perform along the way. In 1938 before a large musical performance at Carnegie Hall that would launch him into international fame, he was allegedly poisoned by the husband of a wife whom Johnson was having relations with, thus ending Johnson’s powerful and storied career. On the following slide listen to the chilling vocals delivered by Johnson on one of the most popular blues tracks in history, “Hellhound On My Trail.”
- 7. “Hellhound On My Trail” “I got to keep movin', I've got to keep movin' Blues fallin' down like hail, blues fallin' down like hail Mm mm mm, blues fallin' down like hail, blues fallin' down like hail And the days keeps on worryin' me of a hellhound on my trail Hellhound on my trail, hellhound on my trail If today was Christmas eve, if today was Christmas eve And tomorrow was Christmas day If today was Christmas eve and tomorrow was Christmas day (Aow, wouldn't we have a time, baby?) All I would need, my little sweet rider, just To pass the time away, huh huh, to pass the time away You sprinkled hot foot powder, mmm Mmm, around my door, all around my door You sprinkled hot foot powder, mmm All around your daddy's door, hmm hmm hmm It keep me with ramblin' mind, rider Every old place I go, every old place I go I can tell, the wind is risin', the leaves tremblin' on the tree Tremblin' on the tree I can tell, the wind is risin', leaves tremblin' on the tree All I need's my little sweet woman And to keep my company, hmm hmm, hey hey My company” Click above to play “Hellhound On My Trail”
- 8. Delta Blues Musicians Sonny Boy Williamson II Also known as “Alex Miller” and “Rice Miller” Sonny Boy Williamson was known as a charismatic trickster (due to his multiple names), master harmonica player and crafty lyricist. Sonny Boy was born in Glendora, Mississippi which is in Tallahatchie County, where he suffered a harsh childhood. He was requested to appear before Governor Earl Brewer to testify in 1915 on the treatment of African Americans in Glendora, due to the reported 12 lynchings in Tallahatchie County. Considered by many to be best harmonica player born in the Delta, Sonny would opt play his harmonica play acoustically rather than through an amplified sound such as a bullet microphone, this preference was likely due to his unique cupping technique where would bend notes while using his hands to create a waa-waa sound. Sonny would space out note bends, adding short pauses and flurries of harmonica licks to supplement his lyrical composition. His lyrical composition is poetically impassioned, embodied with dark themes that staples of the blues. Particularly on the track, “Your, Funeral, My Trial” a song from a husband to his wife that she needs to “cut out that off the wall jive” or “it gotta be your funeral and my trial.” The exceptional ability of Sonny to play harmonica so uniquely and sing with a sort of charismatic swagger creates an auditory aura of blues bliss. Despite his upbringing, Sonny
- 9. Delta Blues Musicians Howlin’ Wolf 6 foot 6 and nearly 300 pounds, Howlin’ Wolf was a monolith in stature and of the post-World War II Chicago blues scene. Given the name Howlin’ Wolf because of his booming gritty voice that shines its brightest on tracks like, “Smokestack Lightning” and “Killing Floor” which have become standards in the blues and blues-rock genres. In addition to Howlin’ Wolf’s creative and progressive guitar play and howling vocals, Howlin’ Wolf learned to play harmonica from Sonny Boy Williamson II. Born in White Station, Mississippi in 1910, he first picked up guitar in 1928 from his father and soon was under the legendary Charley Patton’s wing learning the repertoire of a Delta bluesman. While under Patton’s wing Howlin’ Wolf played with other greats like Sonny Boy Williamson II, Robert Johnson, Johnny Shines and Floyd Jones, crafting his own style that edify musical greats like Jimi Hendrix, Cream and Led Zeppelin .
- 10. Click below to play “Rolling Stone” Delta Blues Musicians Muddy Waters The previous artists were pioneers in the movement, but Muddy Waters can be best described as the bridge between Rock n’ Roll and the blues. Muddy Waters, less known as McKinley Morganfield electrified the grassroots traditional style of Delta blues his with wicked guitar licks and vocals that would later be imitated by the first Rock n’ Roll players. While there are multiple records of his birth Muddy Waters was born sometime between 1913-1915 in Issaquena County, Mississippi. He began playing the guitar and harmonica during his youth after being inspired by Robert Johnson and Son House while working on Stovall Plantation near Clarksdale, the crossroads where Robert Johnson supposedly sold his soul to the Devil. During his youth Waters drove a tractor during daytime and ran a juke joint out of his house where he would perform with the Son Sims Four during the night. He moved to Chicago in the 40’s and started the Muddy Waters Blues Band, subsequently releasing famous hits like, “Manish Boy” and “Got My Mojo Working.” Soon Muddy Waters had become a national icon of the blues, but also the godfather to the first Rock n’ Roll bands. For example, The Rolling Stones (bottom picture with Muddy Waters) covered many of his songs, and even their band name comes from his song “Rolling Stone.” Waters passed away in his sleep in 1983.
- 11. Delta Blues Musicians B.B. King Riley B. King was the son of sharecroppers born in 1925 in Berclair, Mississippi, where in his youth King worked on a plantation in sweltering heat picking cash crops. However, the plantation owner bought him a guitar, which allowed King to learn how to play in his local church. The rest is history, as King ascended out of plantation life by playing the blues in juke joints, street corners and clubs. He is frequently referred to as the “Ambassador of the Blues” due to the international fame and influence that he earned in his career. As the “Ambassador of the Blues” in a time of social change and civil action (1950’s-1970’s), King did not allow race to color his career path, despite his experiences of discrimination throughout his career for being African American. B.B. King touched on race and the factor it plays on the blues, stating, “I’m trying to get people to see that we are our brother’s keeper, red, white, black, brown or yellow, rich or poor, we all have the blues”. Ranked No. 6 on Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” B.B. King was known for his signature thunderous soul filled guitar solos he devised using the “B.B. Box”. The “B.B. Box” is a box shaped variation of the pentatonic blues scale, except the 5th flatted note is replaced with a major sixth, resulting in a combination major and minor tones that give King’s solos a soulful sound that can be used in any key. No musician expressed the blues better than B.B. King with his wailing string bends and tremoring vibrato. King could say things with a single note that cannot be said with a thousand words, and that is what makes his style so recognizable and influential. King’s ascension from working on a Mississippi plantation to an international blues superstar represents the power of the Delta blues as a an artistic movement. B. B. King earned 15 Grammy throughout his career and was inducted into both the Blues Hall of Fame and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Without a doubt one of the most important guitarists in the last half century, King died in his “Without a doubt the most important artist the blues has ever produced.”- Eric Clapton
- 12. Delta Blues Musicians B.B. King • The song played is, “The Thrill Is Gone” famous for King’s intricate solos using the “B.B. Box”. • B.B. King used the same guitar throughout his career, typically a black Gibson ES-355 named he named Lucille. Below is an interesting excerpt from an interview with King about the origins of the name. “We used to play at this nightclub, winter got cold there. So they would take something that looked like a big garbage pail, half fill it with kerosene, light that fuel and sit in the middle of the dance floor and that’s what we used for heat in winter. Two guys started fighting one night, and one knocked the other one on this container. It spilled on the floor it looked like a river of fire, and everyone started running for the door including me. But once I’d got on the outside I realized I left the guitar inside. I went back for it, the building was a wooden building and it started burning rapidly started to fall in around me, and I almost lost my life trying to save my guitar. The next morning we found that these two guys was fighting about a lady that worked in the little night club. I never did meet her. I did learn her name was Lucille, and I named my guitar Lucille to remind me to never do a thing like that again”. – B.B. King from an interview with Business Insider. Click to hear “The Thrill is Gone”
- 13. B.B. King. “The Thrill Is Gone”. Completely Well. ABC Records 1969. CD. “Charley Patton's Grave.” Mississippi Blues Trail, Mississippi Blues Commission, msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/charley-pattons-grave. “Howlin' Wolf - West Point.” Mississippi Blues Trail, Mississippi Blues Commission, msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/howlin-wolf. Kopp, Ed. "A Brief History of the Blues." All About Jazz. 16 Aug. 2005. Web. 17 Sept. 2015. King, Riley B. "'It Looked like a River of Fire': The Incredible Story behind Blues Legend BB King Naming His Guitars." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 15 May 2015. Web. 16 Oct. 2 “Map of the Counties in the Delta.” Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area, National Park Service, www.msdeltaheritage.com/counties/. Muddy Waters. “Rollin' Stone.” Chess Records, Chicago, Illinois, Feb. 1950. “Muddy Waters Birthplace - Rolling Fork.” Mississippi Blues Trail, Mississippi Blues Commission, msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/muddy-waters-birthplace. Robert Johnson. “Hellhound On My Trail.” Dallas, Texas, 20 June 1937. “Robert Johnson Gravesite - Greenwood.” Mississippi Blues Trail, Mississippi Blues Commission, msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/robert-johnson-gravesite. “Robert Johnson – Hellhound On My Trail.” Genius, genius.com/Robert-johnson-hellhound-on-my-trail-annotated. Smyers, Darryl. "If [Clapton] Says That I Am the Greatest Guitar Player Ever, Then Maybe I Am."Dallas Observer. 1 Sept. 2011. Web. 1 Dec. 2015. Kopp, Ed. "A Brief History of the Blues." All About Jazz. 16 Aug. 2005. Web. 17 Sept. 2015. “Son House-Tunica.” Mississippi Blues Trail, Mississippi Blues Commission, msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/son-house. “Son House-Tunica.” Mississippi Blues Trail, Mississippi Blues Commission, msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/son-house. “Sonny Boy Williamson - Glendora.” Mississippi Blues Trail, Mississippi Blues Commission, msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/sonny-boy-williamson. Wilson, Christine. “Mississippi Blues.” Mississippi Blues | Mississippi History Now, Mississippi Historical Society, Aug. 2003, mshistorynow.mdah.state.ms.us/articles/41/mississippi-blues. Wilcock, Don. "B.B. King Obituary - American Blues Scene Magazine." American Blues Scene. American Blues Scene Magazine, 15 May 2015. Web. 1 Dec. 2015. 015. Works Cited
- 14. Photo Credit “B.B. King's 'Lucille'.” Rolling Stone, 23 May 2012, www.rollingstone.com/music/pictures/20-iconic-guitars-20120523/b-b-kings-lucille-0883106. “B.B. King's Top 10 Billboard Hot 100 Hits.” Billboard, 15 May 2015, www.billboard.com/articles/news/6568418/bb-king-top-10-billboard-hot-100- hits. “Howlin' Wolf Concert Setlists.” Setlist.fm, www.setlist.fm/setlists/howlin-wolf-2bd69842.html. Koda, Cub. “Robert Johnson | Biography, Albums, Streaming Links.” AllMusic, www.allmusic.com/artist/robert-johnson-mn0000832288. Koda, Cub. “Son House | Biography & History.” AllMusic, www.allmusic.com/artist/son-house-mn0000753094/biography. “Remembering BB King: the blues icon | Pictures | Pics.” Express.co.uk, 15 May 2015, www.express.co.uk/pictures/pics/2766/Blues-legend-BB- King-s-life-in-pictures-1925-2015. “Remembering BB King: the blues icon | Pictures | Pics.” Express.co.uk, 15 May 2015, www.express.co.uk/pictures/pics/2766/Blues-legend-BB- King-s-life-in-pictures-1925-2015. Rider, C.C. “Muddy Waters.” C.C. Rider, 4 Apr. 2016, ccriderblues.com/muddy-waters/. “Robert Johnson.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Dec. 2017, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Johnson. “The Global Dispatches.” Son House – Preachin' the Blues « The Global Dispatches, www.theglobaldispatches.com/articles/son-house-preachin- the-blues. “The many legends of Sonny Boy Williamson the Second, the original.” Night Flight, nightflight.com/the-many-legends-of-sonny-boy-williamson-the- second-the-original-king-biscuit-boy/. “When Legends Meet.” Pinterest, 23 July 2012, www.pinterest.com/pin/82824080617887000/?lp=true.