MUSC 1800: Popular MusicEarly Blues and the 12-bar Blues Progression

Dr. Matthew C. SaundersLakeland Community College

C-1078

Race Records

• Term used from 1920s to late 1940s

• Music by, for, and marketed to black audiences.

• Included blues, spirituals, and many other styles, including “white” styles performed by African-American musicians.

Classic Blues

• Blues written by professional songwriters– W.C. Handy

• Generally sung by women– “Ma” Rainey– Bessie Smith (pictured)– “St. Louis Blues,” by W.C.

Handy, sung by Bessie Smith (1925)

Country Blues• First recorded in the late

1920s• Male singers more

important– Charley Patton– Blind Lemon Jefferson– Robert Johnson (pictured)

• “Match Box Blues,” Blind Lemon Jefferson, 1927

Twelve-bar Blues• Common chord progression in blues styles• Later important to jazz, rock, country, funk, folk music, hip hop• Each “bar” is four beats• Three lines of four bars each

IV

I I I

II

I

IV

IV IV

V V

Line 1 of Lyric

Line 1 of Lyric Repeats

Line 2 of Lyric

A Tour of the BluesListen to these songs until you can find the 12-bar

blues progression in each one.• Tracy Chapman: Give Me One Reason, 1995• James Brown: I Got You (I Feel Good), 1965• Hank Williams: Move it on Over, 1947• Bill Haley: Rock Around the Clock, 1955• Johnny Cash: Folsom Prison Blues, 1955 – (11-bar blues (he didn’t take the class!))

• Duke Ellington: C-Jam Blues, 1942• Robert Johnson: Sweet Home Chicago, 1936