The Great Migration

Southern Blues Move North and Plug In

Causes of the Great Migration

• A push and a pull

• Push

– Social, economic and natural causes that made the rural South less livable for African Americans

• Pull

– Hopes of work and opportunity in the industrial urban North

– WWI and WWII

The Structure of Sharecropping (a push)

• After the Civil war– Government promised “40 Acres and a Mule”– Never fulfilled

• Economic need for share cropping• Plantations were divided into 20 to 50 acre plots. Each to be farmed by

individual families.• Families (given)

– small cabins – supplies (loaned on credit with interest) – farm the land – return half the crop to the owner.

• High interest rates for supplies– Families in dept– Dependent– New form of slavery

Other Factors (push)

• Boll Weevil– A beetle that feeds on cotton

plants– Destroyed many crops– Sharecroppers deeper in dept

• Periodic flooding of the Mississippi Delta region

• Cotton picker – Available 1944– Practical by the 1950’s

• Lack of opportunity away from the plantations

Segregation and Prejudice

• Jim Crow– 1866 – The Federal government created laws making segregation

between blacks and whites illegal– 1877 Rutherford B. Hayes ended Reconstruction

• Southern states were permitted to do what they wanted• Lynching• Chain gangs• Sharecropping• Color line – If you had any African blood at all you were subject to the

segregationist laws

– Segregation• Schools• Transportation• Restaurants• Poll taxes to discourage voting• Continued well into the 20th Century 60’s 70’s

The Urban Pull

• African American workers were not in demand

• Considered a threat to Caucasian workers

• WWI and WWII created a need for industrial labor

– As laborers left their jobs for war

– Openings for African Americans

• It was perceived that segregation was not as blatant in the North

The Great Migration

• African Americans leave rural areas for factory jobs in cities.

• Between 1910 and 1930, the African-American population rose by about 40% in Northern states,

• Chicago's African American population grew from 40,000 in 1910 to234,000 in 1930 with an estimated increase of 50,000 during WWII.

The Result

• African Americans alter their rural lifestyles to adapt to urban life.

• Worked long hours• Longed for entertainment and escape• Demand for Southern, African American musical

styles– Jazz– Blues (not as in demand as jazz until the style began

to change)

• Musicians from the rural south also migrated– Not always for musical employment

Chicago

How this Effected the Music

• Influences from all over the country– Jump– BooggieWoogie– Honky Tonk– (1930s) Swing

• Challenges of the Delta Blues Musician– Larger, louder crowds

• Musicians turn to electric guitars to compete with volume• More demanding dance crowds create the need for harder

steadier beats• Blues musicians change their music for this new

environment

The Magnetic Pickup

• 1924 - Lloyd Loardesigned the first magnetic pickup

• Converted guitar string vibrations into electrical signals

• Amplified through a speaker system

• Crude technology• Began the

development of the electric guitar

Electric Guitar

• 1931 Rickenbacker – E. Hawaiian Guitar– Frying Pan

• Gibson had been developing e. guitars as well– Lap Steel EH-150– Hollow body ES-150 Played like a traditional acoustic guitar

• Late 30’s– Charlie Christian

• Blues guitarists quickly jumped on board– Gibson L5

• 1940’s Les Paul and Leo Fender were experimenting with solid body guitars

Electric Guitar

• 1941 Les Paul’s “Log Guitar”– A solid body prototype

• 1948 – Leo Fender – “Broadcaster”• 1950 – “Telecaster”• 1954 – “Stratocaster”• Many blues players jumped to solid bodies as soon as they came

out.• Matter of preference• Amplifiers

– Designers tried to make them “clean”– Blues men wanted them “dirty”– This demand led to making amps that could be turned up for tube

distortion

Muddy Waters

• The greatest link and the most important transition figure from the Delta Blues to R&B

• A musical icon for the Great Migration• Born McKinley Morganfield in Rolling Fork, Mississippi – April

4, 1913• Grew up on Stovall’s Plantation near Clarksdale• Sharecropper but, better known as a bootlegger and guitar player• Inspired by Son House at an early age• Discovered by Alan Lomax in 1941

– Library of Congress recordings– Received 20 dollars for the release of these songs– This was a lot of money for Muddy relatively speaking

Muddy Waters

• Migrated to Chicago

• A musical career was not so easy– Swing

– African American pop singers• Nat King Cole

• Billy Eckstine

• First job was in a paper factory

• Continued to play music on weekends at parties or wherever he could

Muddy Waters

• His first electric guitar was given to him by his uncle

• Did not adapt easily at first• The death of his grandmother awarded him

enough money to buy an old beaten up car• Landed a gig with Sonny Boy Williamson

– Guitar player/ Driver– A harmonica player– The best at the time– Enjoyed several recording contracts and popularity

Muddy Waters

• 1947 Blues pianist – Sunnyland Slim– Used Muddy and Sunny Boy on his recording date– Aristocrat Label

• Waters was called from his day job– A delivery person for a venetian blind company– An unidentified caller told his boss that his mother was very sick and

that he needed to leave work immediately – Got home to find Sunnyland Slim ready to take him to his session

• Produced by Leonard Chess– Future owner of Chess Records– This launched Muddy’s career with Chess– The relationship between Muddy, Leonard and his brother, Philip was

a crucial step in the development of what would become “The Chicago Blues”

Muddy Waters

• “I Feel Like Going Home”– First national R&B hit

• “I Can’t Be Satisfied”– So popular in Chicago that he could not buy a copy.– Some believe this to be the inspiration for The Rolling Stones’ “I

can’s Get no Satisfaction”– The band name “The Rolling Stones” was titled after a Muddy

Waters composition: “Rolling Stone”

• Assembled one of the tightest bands in the history of the Chicago music scene

• Continued with many more hits• A huge influence on the Rock and Roll that was to follow

Muddy Waters

• Bassist Willie Dixon became a vital collaborator– Hoochie-Coochie Man

• Followed a common them in most of Muddy’s work• Bragged about his sexual talents• I Just Wanna Make Love to You• Got My MojoWorkin’• Rollin’ and Tumblin’• Tiger in your Tank

• Any sexual innuendos you get from these titles is not the result of a dirty mind

• These innuendos were common in blues and R&B• Continue to this day in Rock and Roll and urban music• More blatant now• Limitations required more creativity

Willie Dixon

• Session Bassist for Chess Records

• One of the first to be considered a composer for the Blues genre

• Composed many hits for a number of Chess artists

• His compositions were heavily covered by rock band in the 60’s

Chess Records

• The Chess Brothers - Leonard and Philip– Polish / Jewish immigrants– Lejzor and FiszelCzyz– Leonard eventually worked his way up to owning a

liquor store• African American neighborhood• Juke box• Developed an ear for black music

– Macombo Lounge• Liquor• Live entertainment• Many Chicago Blues players

Chess Records

• Leonard and Phil Became partners in Aristocrat records

• Eventually became Chess Records

• Established their own recording studio – 2120 South Michigan Ave.– 1964 Rolling Stones recorded

their second album there based on their passion for Chess recordings

– 2120

Chess Records

• Masters at getting airplay for their recordings– Payola

• Bribing DJs to play their records– Money– Sex– Drugs– Publishing

– Not the the only independent label to do so• Atlantic• King• Stax• Many others• Only way to compete with the majors

• Recruited the talent from the Chicago African American community• Immigrants of the Great Migration

Chess Records

• Other Artists on Chess

– Howlin’ Wolf

– Memphis Slim

– Bo Diddley

– Chuck Berry

• The list above shows a progression from Blues to R&B to early Rock and Roll

• Chess was vital to the progression