Blues was once described as the devil's music. It eventually became some of the most beloved American music embraced by a global audience. Originating in African American communities in the South in the late 1800s, it was inspired by gospel and spiritual music sung by fieldhands and sharecroppers who worked on plantations. During the Great Migration from the early 1900s to the mid-1970s, many African Americans moved north for a better quality of life. Chicago was one of America's leading industrialized cities, and manufacturing jobs were plentiful and provided better wages than sharecropping. Many blues musicians who worked as fieldhands and sharecroppers moved to Chicago for those jobs and to pursue their love of music. Greats such as Big Bill Broonzy, Tampa Red, Muddy Waters, Jimmy and Estelle Yancey, Robert Nighthawk, Elmore James, Willie Dixon, Earl Hooker, Koko Taylor, Sly Johnson, Buddy Guy, Howlin' Wolf, Eddie Burns, Zora Young, Junior Wells, and a host of others came with their own styles and gave birth to Chicago blues.

Details
Paperback book
128 pages
Dimensions: 6.5 x 0.31 x 9.25 inches