The history of blues music can be traced back to the 19th Century American south. Back then African-American slaves were forced to work from dawn till dusk. The brutality of their labour was quite horrendous and to ease their own suffering they would sing a rhythmic call and response style music to help get them through the torment of the day. Usually the most respected of the workers would shout a solo line, they were known as “the hollers” and the rest of the workers would then repeat the solo line singing in unison whilst being in rhythm with their work. This was the birth of blues music, “the holler” would eventually evolve as the solo singer.
The first blues music was recorded in 1895 by Tomas Edison, “The Laughing song” which was played by pianist George W. Johnson. From then on blues music exploded with W.C. Handy (Father Of The Blues) first transcribing Blues music at the turn of the century and the “Crazy Blues” recording by Mamie Smith in 1920 which was the first ever commercially popular blues record. The 1920’s and 1930’s also witnessed the emergence of blues guitar players with some of the most influential being Robert Johnson, Lonnie Johnson, Son House and Blind Lemon Jefferson. Later as the 1940’s came closer jump blues became popular, the guitar migrated to the rhythm section, this would eventually influence the birth of popular genres such as rhythm and blues and of course rock and roll.
The blues guitar became electrified and amplified after World War II bringing with it electric blues. This is the time all time favourites B.B. King and Freddie King started to make a name for themselves. B.B. King is widely considered to be one of the greatest ever blues guitar players whilst Freddie King is widely recognized as the King of the Boogie Woogie guitar. Blues music enjoyed a largely black audience until the 60’s, at this time blues music grew in popularity amongst white audiences helped by the emergence of The Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Classic blues tunes were also being made more popular by bands such as Fleetwood Mac and The Rolling Stones.
Back in Chicago blues bands were dominated by the amplified electric blues guitar as the West Side Chicago Blues style was born thanks to the influence of Albert King, Buddy Guy, and Luther Allison. Blues music is still hugely popular till the present day and has continued somewhat of a resurgence since the early 80’s as the history of blues still manages to influence modern artists such as Eric Clapton and blues guitar players like Walter Trout and Robert Cray.