Electric blues

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Electric blues
Stylistic originsBlues
Cultural originsLate 1930s, United States
Derivative forms
Regional scenes

Electric blues is

Detroit blues, and post-World War II Chicago blues, which differed from earlier, predominantly acoustic-style blues. By the early 1950s, Little Walter was a featured soloist on blues harmonica using a small hand-held microphone fed into a guitar amplifier. Although it took a little longer, the electric bass guitar
gradually replaced the stand-up bass by the early 1960s. Electric organs and especially keyboards later became widely used in electric blues.

Early regional styles

Main articles: Chicago blues, Memphis blues, New Orleans blues, and West Coast blues

The blues, like

power amp or a guitar amplifier.[6]

By the late 1940s several Chicago-based blues artists had begun to use amplification, including

standard blues songs of the period, such as "Hoochie Coochie Man", "I Just Want to Make Love to You" (both penned for Muddy Waters) and, "Wang Dang Doodle", "Spoonful" and "Back Door Man" for Howlin' Wolf.[11] Most artists of the Chicago blues style recorded for the Chicago-based Chess Records and Checker Records labels; there were also smaller blues labels in this era including Vee-Jay Records and J.O.B. Records.[12]

In the late 1950s, the West Side style blues emerged in Chicago with major figures including Magic Sam, Jimmy Dawkins, Magic Slim and Otis Rush.[13] West Side clubs were more accessible to white audiences, but performers were mainly black, or part of mixed combos.[14] West Side blues incorporated elements of blues rock but with a greater emphasis on standards and traditional blues song forms.[15] Albert King, Buddy Guy, and Luther Allison had a West Side style that was dominated by amplified electric lead guitar.[16][17]

John Lee Hooker created his own blues style and renewed it several times during his long career.

Memphis, with its flourishing acoustic blues scene based in

B.B. King.[18] Other Memphis blues musicians involved with Sun Records included Joe Hill Louis, Willie Johnson and Pat Hare who introduced electric guitar techniques such as distorted and power chords, anticipating elements of heavy metal music.[19] These players had an influence on early rock and rollers and rockabillies, many of whom also recorded for Sun Records. After Phillips discovered Elvis Presley in 1954, the Sun label turned to the rapidly expanding white audience and started recording mostly rock and roll.[20] Booker T. & the M.G.'s
carried the electric blues style into the 1960s.

Detroit-based

Boogie Chillen", reached #1 on the R&B charts in 1949.[21] He continued to play and record until his death in 2001.[22]

The

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll,[24] and contributed to the development of soul music.[25]

In the 1950s, blues had a huge influence on mainstream American popular music. While popular musicians like

cajun
arrangements of blues standards.

British electric styles

Main articles: British blues and British rhythm and blues

British blues emerged from the

the Small Faces, and the Yardbirds
.

Clapton in 2008, one of the major figures of the British blues boom in the 1960s.

The other key focus for British blues was around John Mayall who moved to London in the early 1960s, eventually forming the Bluesbreakers, whose members at various times included, Jack Bruce, Aynsley Dunbar, Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor.[30] The Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton (Beano) album (1966) is considered one of the seminal British blues recordings.[31] It was notable for its driving rhythms and Clapton's rapid blues licks with a full distorted sound derived from a Gibson Les Paul and a Marshall amp, which became something of a classic combination for British blues (and later rock) guitarists.[32] It also made clear the primacy of the guitar, seen as a distinctive characteristic of the subgenre.[30] Clapton left to form Cream with Baker and Bruce and his replacement was Peter Green, who in turn (with the then Bluesbreaker's rhythm section Mick Fleetwood and John McVie) left in 1967 to form Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac.[33] Incorporating elements of rock led these bands to a hybrid form known as blues rock.

Blues rock

Main article: Blues rock

Blues rock combines blues with rock.

Yardbirds, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page.[30]

After leaving the Yardbirds and his work with John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, Eric Clapton formed supergroups Cream,

Allman Brothers Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and eventually ZZ Top from the American South, incorporated country elements into their style to produce Southern rock.[35]

By the 1970s, blues rock had become heavier and more riff-based, exemplified by the work of Led Zeppelin and

the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion,[42] and Joe Bonamassa have explored a more roots oriented, but edgier style.[43]

Electric Texas blues

Main article: Texas blues
Stevie Ray Vaughan was the most prominent figure in Texas electric blues in the late 20th century

Texas had had a long history of major acoustic blues performers like

first rock and roll record" title.[44]

The state R&B recording industry was based in Houston with labels like Duke/Peacock, which in the 1950s provided a base for artists who would later pursue the electric Texas blues sound, including Johnny Copeland and Albert Collins.[6] Freddie King, a major influence on electric blues, was born in Texas, but moved to Chicago as a teenager.[6] His instrumental number "Hide Away" (1961), was emulated by British blues artists including Eric Clapton.[45]

In the late 1960s and early 1970s the Texas electric blues scene began to flourish, influenced by country music and blues rock, particularly in the clubs of Austin. The diverse style often featured instruments like keyboards and horns, but placed particular emphasis on powerful lead guitar breaks.[6] The most prominent artists to emerge in this era were the brothers Johnny and Edgar Winter, who combined traditional and southern styles.[6] In the 1970s Jimmie formed the Fabulous Thunderbirds and in the 1980s his brother Stevie Ray Vaughan broke through to mainstream success with his virtuoso guitar playing, as did ZZ Top with their brand of Southern rock.[46]

Contemporary electric blues

Since the end of the 1960s, electric blues has declined in mainstream popularity, but retained a strong following in the US, Britain and elsewhere, with many musicians that began their careers as early as the 1950s continuing to record and perform, occasionally producing breakthrough stars.

R&B, and funk.[49][50]

Since her breakthrough commercial success Nick of Time (1989), Bonnie Raitt has been one of the leading artists in acoustic and electric blues, doing much to promote the profile of older blues artists.[51] After the renewed success of John Lee Hooker with his collaborative album The Healer (1989),[52] several artists began to return to electric blues, including Gary Moore, beginning with Still Got the Blues (1990)[53] and Eric Clapton with From the Cradle (1994).[54]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra, S. T. Erlewine, All music guide to rock: the definitive guide to rock, pop, and soul (Backbeat books, 3rd ed., 2002), pp. 1351-2.
  2. ^ E. M. Komara, Encyclopedia of the blues (Routledge, 2006), p. 118.
  3. ^ M. A. Humphry, "Holy Blues: The Gospel Tradition," in L. Cohn, M. K. Aldin and B. Bastin, eds, Nothing But the Blues: The Music and the Musicians (Abbeville Press, 1993), p. 179.
  4. ^ a b G. Herzhaft, Encyclopedia of the Blues (University of Arkansas Press, 1997), p. 53.
  5. ^ Pierson, Leroy (1976). Detroit Ghetto Blues 1948 to 1954 (Vinyl back cover). St. Louis: Nighthawk Records. 104.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra, S. T. Erlewine, All music guide to the blues: the definitive guide to the blues (Backbeat Books, 3rd ed., 2003), pp. 694-95.
  7. ^ M. A. Humphry, "Holy Blues: The Gospel Tradition," in L. Cohn, M. K. Aldin and B. Bastin, eds, Nothing But the Blues: The Music and the Musicians (Abbeville Press, 1993), p. 180.
  8. ^ R. Unterberger, Music USA: a coast-to-coast tour of American music: the artists, the venues, the stories, and the essential recordings (Rough Guides, 1999), p. 250.
  9. ^ G. Herzhaft, Encyclopedia of the Blues (University of Arkansas Press, 1997), p. 95.
  10. ^ G. Herzhaft, Encyclopedia of the Blues (University of Arkansas Press, 1997), p. 185.
  11. ^ G. Herzhaft, Encyclopedia of the Blues (University of Arkansas Press, 1997), p. 56.
  12. The Cambridge companion to the guitar
    (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), p. 98.
  13. ^ E. M. Komara, Encyclopedia of the blues (Routledge, 2006), p. 49.
  14. ^ R. Unterberger, Music USA: a coast-to-coast tour of American music: the artists, the venues, the stories, and the essential recordings (Rough Guides, 1999), p. 256.
  15. ^ C. Rotella, Good with Their Hands: Boxers, Bluesmen, and Other Characters from the Rust Belt (Chicago: University of California Press, 2004), pp. 68-70.
  16. ^ "Blues". Encyclopedia of Chicago. Retrieved 2008-08-13.
  17. ^ C. Michael Bailey (2003-10-04). "West Side Chicago Blues". All about Jazz. Retrieved 2008-08-13.
  18. ^ J. Broven, Record Makers and Breakers: Voices of the Independent Rock ʹnʹ Roll Pioneers Music in American Life (University of Illinois Press, 2009), pp. 149-54.
  19. ISBN 0-8223-1265-4
    .
  20. ^ V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra, S. T. Erlewine, All music guide to the blues: the definitive guide to the blues (Backbeat Books, 3rd ed., 2003), pp. 690-91.
  21. ^ L. Bjorn, Before Motown (University of Michigan Press, 2001), p. 175.
  22. ^ P. Buckley, The rough guide to rock (Rough Guides, 3rd ed., 2003), p. 505.
  23. ISBN 978-1589806771
    .
  24. ^ "500 Songs That Shaped Rock". Infoplease.com. Retrieved 2006-11-05.
  25. ISBN 0-87930-736-6
    , pp. 687-8.
  26. ^ G. Herzhaft, Encyclopedia of the Blues (University of Arkansas Press, 1997), p. 11.
  27. ^ M. Campbell, ed., Popular Music in America: And the Beat Goes on (Cengage Learning, 3rd ed., 2008), p. 168.
  28. ^ G. Herzhaft, Encyclopedia of the Blues (University of Arkansas Press, 1997), p. 236.
  29. ^ G. Herzhaft, Encyclopedia of the Blues (University of Arkansas Press, 1997), p. 35.
  30. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra, S. T. Erlewine, eds, All Music Guide to the Blues: The Definitive Guide to the Blues (Backbeat, 3rd edn., 2003), pp. 700-2.
  31. ^ T. Rawlings, A. Neill, C. Charlesworth and C. White, Then, Now and Rare British Beat 1960-1969 (Omnibus Press, 2002), p. 130.
  32. ^ M. Roberty and C. Charlesworth, The Complete Guide to the Music of Eric Clapton (Omnibus Press, 1995), p. 11.
  33. ^ R. Brunning, The Fleetwood Mac Story: Rumours and Lies (Omnibus Press, 2004), pp. 1-15.
  34. ^ P. Prown, H. P. Newquist, J. F. Eiche, Legends of rock guitar: the essential reference of rock's greatest guitarists (Hal Leonard Corporation, 1997), p. 25.
  35. ^ V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra, S. T. Erlewine, All music guide to rock: the definitive guide to rock, pop, and soul (Backbeat books, 3rd edn., 2002), p. 1333.
  36. ^ a b "Blues-Rock". AllMusic. 1978-03-22. Retrieved 2014-07-31.
  37. ^ P. Prown, H. P. Newquist and Jon F. Eiche, Legends of rock guitar: the essential reference of rock's greatest guitarists (Hal Leonard Corporation, 1997), p. 113.
  38. ^ V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra, S. T. Erlewine, All music guide to the blues: the definitive guide to the blues (Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2003), p. 600.
  39. ^ P. Buckley, The rough guide to rock (Rough Guides, 3rd edn., 2003), p. 99.
  40. ^ A. Petrusicht, Still Moves: Lost Songs, Lost Highways, and the Search for the Next American Music (Macmillan, 2008), p. 87.
  41. ^ Bush, John. "Clutch | Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-07-31.
  42. ^ S. Taylor, A to X of Alternative Music (Continuum, 2006), p. 242.
  43. ^ Wilson, MacKenzie (1977-05-08). "Joe Bonamassa | Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-07-31.
  44. ISBN 0-8223-1265-4
    .
  45. ^ M. Roberty and C. Charlesworth, The complete guide to the music of Eric Clapton (Omnibus Press, 1995), p. 11.
  46. ^ E. M. Komara, Encyclopedia of the blues (Routledge, 2006), p. 50.
  47. ^ a b c V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra, S. T. Erlewine, eds, All Music Guide to the Blues: The Definitive Guide to the Blues (Backbeat, 3rd edn., 2003), pp. 703-4
  48. ^ R. Weissman, Blues: the basics (Routledge, 2005), p. 140
  49. ^ Whiteis, David (2012). "Linsey Alexander: linear notes from his new cd Been There Done That" (PDF). Rhythm & News. 2012 Festival Issue (729): 9. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  50. ^ Marcus, Richard. "Music Review:Linsey Alexander - Been There Done That". Hearst Newspapers. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  51. ^ R. Weissman, Blues: the basics (Routledge, 2005), pp. 131-2
  52. ^ V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra, S. T. Erlewine, All music guide to the blues: the definitive guide to the blues (Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2003), p. 245
  53. ^ V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra, S. T. Erlewine, All music guide to the blues: the definitive guide to the blues (Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2003), pp. 410-12
  54. ^ D. Dicaire, More blues singers: biographies of 50 artists from the later 20th century (McFarland, 2001), p. 203
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