The blues is a predominantly African-American genre of music, originating during the late 1860s in the South shortly after slavery was abolished. Inspired by spirituals, this era of blues is considered “Delta Blues”- “Delta” from a region in Mississippi called the Mississippi Delta where the blues originated. As a form of coping with hardships, African Americans sang spiritual songs in both the church and in the field. Blues is characterized by many elements, some of which being the call and response, the twelve-bar blues (a chord progression style that is popularized in modern music), melancholic lyrics, a main singer, and instruments like slide guitar. The surge of incoming African-Americans brought by the Great Migration sprouted many blues musicians in Chicago, Illinois. Chicago blues was characterized by its energetic sound, contrasting with the more melancholy Delta blues. It consisted of electric guitar, bass guitar, piano, and drums. Blues also influenced other popular genres such as Rock, Jazz, Pop, Metal, Rap, etc. Many people dub it “the mother of all modern music”. The blues that African Americans sang back in the 1860s and 70s, have changed music so greatly that most of the music that we listen to today is a form of blues. 

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