Thursday, April 17, 2008
"The Blues: Examining the Past and Present of a Uniquely American Art Form"
The blues and its influence on American society is a complicated, multi-layered phenomenon that deserves closer examination. Of utmost importance in coming to understand the present-day is the simple act of being able to tread backward through time and begin at the beginning. As we shall see, sociologists attempt to seek out a more truthful representation of how things came to be, rather than romanticize things in ways pervasive among popular music articles and artist interviews.
What must also be understood is that the blues did not evolve out of nowhere. It developed out of a need: a need for expression, as well as a need for African-
Americans to find their place in the American superstructure. Although classic blues arose partly as production of the recording industry, and the notion that performers could earn a living making music, the earliest forms of blues came out of wanderers and field workers. Traditional training was not necessary; to have the blues was considered a part of being human.
"It was assumed that each man had his own blues and that he would sing them," Leroi Jones wrote. He added, "It was assumed that anybody could sing the blues. If someone had lived in this world into manhood, it was taken for granted that he had been given the content of his verses."
The blues as a form of entertainment for Americans had a way of uniting a divided society, though cultural and categorical divisions were present in the blues movement. It is relevant in our study to consider the different directions taken in the light of urban as well as rural areas of the country; the roles of men and women in the performance at the time; as well as regional differences in lifestyles between the north and south; and segregation and racial tension between blacks and whites.
Jones puts forth the idea that African-Americans were introduced to the entertainment industry through the advent of minstrels and vaudevilles. He cites Gertrude "Ma" Rainey as responsible for the beginnings of the classic, more structured, blues style, and says her travels with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels, a larger company that toured the south, led her to teach Bessie Smith (1898-1937), the future and still known "Empress of the Blues."
Interesting enough are those divisions spoken of previously: the great classic blues singers were predominantly women, while men dominated country blues singing. Robert Johnson (1911-1938), often the most highly regarded Delta blues musician, lived and recorded during precisely the same time Smith's work could be heard on the radio. It should be noted also that during this time country blues did not get the same attention inasmuch as airplay, but was ever-present in the south.
It was during this time also that big band and swing music took off, meeting the demands of dancehalls across the nation. Luckily, according to blues guitarist Lowell Fulson, T-Bone Walker solidified the art form and fought the fade out it seemed to face. "I always give him credit, because he's the first man brought the blues guitar – matter of fact, brought the guitar back in style, playing lead," he said.
These forms eventually united and coalesced into a new invention, later referred to by Billboard magazine in 1949 as "Rhythm and Blues." At the time, though, the new phrase was more a blanket term for nearly all African-American popular music.
Fast-forward to 2008, and the blues are highly regarded as a piece of Americana. One can feel the historical presence in almost all music made in the United States today. I believe the trick is, though, that regional location, as well as age, has more to do with the prototype for blues singers than anything. For example, it is known that Johnson rapidly grew in popularity, and as a consequence so did a love for the blues sound once again, when Columbia released his complete recordings in the '60s.
Johnson's recordings are still popular and are reaching new audiences even today. One summer several years ago, I recall taking an interest in old blues and jazz recordings. I asked a trusted friend of mine to recommend me some purchases in that realm. "Get the complete recordings of Robert Johnson," he said. I went out and paid $25 for that set, and it was worth every penny. Other than that, I began exploring blues and old jazz artists by purchasing cheap compilation albums of different artists at stores like K-Mart and Target. Sometimes they sell them for only $5 and $8. My favorite songs from these compilations were by Bessie Smith. I also enjoyed the recordings by Billie Holiday and Lightnin' Hopkins. Little did I know until taking this class how truly important they were in the context of blues history, as well as music in the making today.
After reading the text, I asked several friends if they knew most of the classic blues singers were women. The response was overwhelmingly, "No." I was surprised by this revelation as well. I also wondered if because I live in Texas, if that might be why even friends I speak to about the blues seem more familiar with country blues than classic blues. I wonder if it is a product of living in the south.
I also feel that all modern rock music, including independent music, can be traced back to the blues. I find the idea that musicians today tend to tie themselves to the blues through a personal narrative rather fascinating. However, I believe a generational shift is taking place. As an entertainment writer, I have often interviewed musicians and asked them to name their top five recording artists. Ninety-nine percent of the time I get at least one Beatles album or something by The Rolling Stones, as well as The Beach Boys sometimes, and occasionally Led Zeppelin. I am aware of the fact that all these artists were somehow influenced directly or indirectly by the blues.
In the same way, another friend of mine in conversation said 10 years from now everyone is going to be naming Nirvana on their list. I'm not sure if I agree with that, but I know that even if they do, Nirvana not only covered Leadbelly, but can most likely be traced as well to some classic rock acts, who had at one time or another been highly influenced by the blues.
Examples of this can be found online and in publications showcasing interviews of artists, local and international. In a search for Bessie Smith on MySpace, I found six fan pages created in her honor. Some include biography information, as well as pictures and recordings. Billie Holiday also has twenty-three MySpace pages dedicated to her. This is important because the women of the blues tie so closely to women in rock today. For example, Bessie Smith influenced Billie Holiday, who led to Dinah Washington, to Janis Joplin, and on to local Houston blues artist Carolyn Wonderland, and even some of today's biggest pop icons.
The blues is not only present in rock 'n' roll; it is also felt in soul and R & B recordings. Last month, an article on MTV.com declared Beyonce Knowles, a native Houstonian and international icon of Destiny's Child girl group, as well as a solo artist, is next returning to the big screen after her Dreamgirls debut, to star in the role of Etta James, famed blues singer, in the up-and-coming film, Cadillac Records.
In a related 2006 story also on MTV, pop singer Christina Aguilera participated in a photo shoot for InStyle Magazine, where she had the opportunity to pose for pictures with her self-described all-time favorite singer, Etta James. This also ties into the idea that modern artists feel the need to create a fiction, via memory or otherwise, to tie them to a revered master from another time in music, i.e. the blues.
"I've said it for the last seven years — since I had my first debut record out — in every interview, in every story, in every on- and off-camera question. I mean, all of Etta's old songs, countless songs I could name, I grew up listening to. That music was always such a huge escape for me, even from a young age," Aguilera said.
She also recounted a story of shopping for vintage records with her grandmother when she was seven years old, and immediately falling in love with the raw emotional sounds demonstrated in the earliest soul, blues, and jazz recordings. In the interview James seemed to recognize that influence in Aguilera's singing as well, and told her so. "It's like you were here many years ago," she said. "You don't look exactly like them, but there's something about you that's like Dinah Washington, Billie Holiday, those kinds of chicks. I've never seen a girl sing as tough as you sing, as little as you are. It's like you're an old soul."
As discussed, the blues has shown to be a pervasive part of American life. Even in popular music today, I believe it has great influence. Blues songs were about heartbreak, struggle, and basic human emotions people could relate to. The earliest singers were not classically trained, and the blues was thought to be a universal feeling. This is much like the lyrical content for a lot of popular songs, whether indie rock, pop punk, bubblegum songs by future American Idols, or alternative. Blues songs were personal. They were confessional, much like some of our favorite artists today.
I also think the success of the blues as an art form comes from the very instrument that expresses it: the guitar. If guitar is not going away, then certainly the blues never will, so whether in lyrics or instrumentation we are always going to experience the blues.
I once made a British friend, Tom, while working as a camp counselor in Seattle. I remember sitting at a pier on the Vaughn Bay with a bandana in my hair, playing my guitar. It was Tom's first time in America, working at this camp for the summer, and he said before it was over, he was going to participate in American life by purchasing his own acoustic guitar. He told me in England, going to the University there wasn't like being in college here. He had not the same experiences I had of going to parties or hanging outside the dorms while people passed a guitar around and played to each other. He said he wanted to take that home with him, and he did. He bought one, and I taught him a couple songs before the summer ended.
An acoustic guitar has many advantages. It is relatively cheap if you're not picky, and one of the greatest things about it is that it is so portable. A guitar is also unique in that it can be used solitarily or in combination with other musicians. It is also easy to learn, or at least to fake it. Most people I know at school can play at least one song, and the thing about guitar is that most general audiences don't notice mistakes, so you don't have to be great to be able to play for people. This dates back to the original blues players making music based on what they felt, rather than what they were taught.
***
Hey guys -- I've just been learning some really interesting shit this semester, and wanted to share it. Please let me know what your thoughts are, and if you read this far, thank you.
-c
The blues and its influence on American society is a complicated, multi-layered phenomenon that deserves closer examination. Of utmost importance in coming to understand the present-day is the simple act of being able to tread backward through time and begin at the beginning. As we shall see, sociologists attempt to seek out a more truthful representation of how things came to be, rather than romanticize things in ways pervasive among popular music articles and artist interviews.
What must also be understood is that the blues did not evolve out of nowhere. It developed out of a need: a need for expression, as well as a need for African-
Americans to find their place in the American superstructure. Although classic blues arose partly as production of the recording industry, and the notion that performers could earn a living making music, the earliest forms of blues came out of wanderers and field workers. Traditional training was not necessary; to have the blues was considered a part of being human.
"It was assumed that each man had his own blues and that he would sing them," Leroi Jones wrote. He added, "It was assumed that anybody could sing the blues. If someone had lived in this world into manhood, it was taken for granted that he had been given the content of his verses."
The blues as a form of entertainment for Americans had a way of uniting a divided society, though cultural and categorical divisions were present in the blues movement. It is relevant in our study to consider the different directions taken in the light of urban as well as rural areas of the country; the roles of men and women in the performance at the time; as well as regional differences in lifestyles between the north and south; and segregation and racial tension between blacks and whites.
Jones puts forth the idea that African-Americans were introduced to the entertainment industry through the advent of minstrels and vaudevilles. He cites Gertrude "Ma" Rainey as responsible for the beginnings of the classic, more structured, blues style, and says her travels with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels, a larger company that toured the south, led her to teach Bessie Smith (1898-1937), the future and still known "Empress of the Blues."
Interesting enough are those divisions spoken of previously: the great classic blues singers were predominantly women, while men dominated country blues singing. Robert Johnson (1911-1938), often the most highly regarded Delta blues musician, lived and recorded during precisely the same time Smith's work could be heard on the radio. It should be noted also that during this time country blues did not get the same attention inasmuch as airplay, but was ever-present in the south.
It was during this time also that big band and swing music took off, meeting the demands of dancehalls across the nation. Luckily, according to blues guitarist Lowell Fulson, T-Bone Walker solidified the art form and fought the fade out it seemed to face. "I always give him credit, because he's the first man brought the blues guitar – matter of fact, brought the guitar back in style, playing lead," he said.
These forms eventually united and coalesced into a new invention, later referred to by Billboard magazine in 1949 as "Rhythm and Blues." At the time, though, the new phrase was more a blanket term for nearly all African-American popular music.
Fast-forward to 2008, and the blues are highly regarded as a piece of Americana. One can feel the historical presence in almost all music made in the United States today. I believe the trick is, though, that regional location, as well as age, has more to do with the prototype for blues singers than anything. For example, it is known that Johnson rapidly grew in popularity, and as a consequence so did a love for the blues sound once again, when Columbia released his complete recordings in the '60s.
Johnson's recordings are still popular and are reaching new audiences even today. One summer several years ago, I recall taking an interest in old blues and jazz recordings. I asked a trusted friend of mine to recommend me some purchases in that realm. "Get the complete recordings of Robert Johnson," he said. I went out and paid $25 for that set, and it was worth every penny. Other than that, I began exploring blues and old jazz artists by purchasing cheap compilation albums of different artists at stores like K-Mart and Target. Sometimes they sell them for only $5 and $8. My favorite songs from these compilations were by Bessie Smith. I also enjoyed the recordings by Billie Holiday and Lightnin' Hopkins. Little did I know until taking this class how truly important they were in the context of blues history, as well as music in the making today.
After reading the text, I asked several friends if they knew most of the classic blues singers were women. The response was overwhelmingly, "No." I was surprised by this revelation as well. I also wondered if because I live in Texas, if that might be why even friends I speak to about the blues seem more familiar with country blues than classic blues. I wonder if it is a product of living in the south.
I also feel that all modern rock music, including independent music, can be traced back to the blues. I find the idea that musicians today tend to tie themselves to the blues through a personal narrative rather fascinating. However, I believe a generational shift is taking place. As an entertainment writer, I have often interviewed musicians and asked them to name their top five recording artists. Ninety-nine percent of the time I get at least one Beatles album or something by The Rolling Stones, as well as The Beach Boys sometimes, and occasionally Led Zeppelin. I am aware of the fact that all these artists were somehow influenced directly or indirectly by the blues.
In the same way, another friend of mine in conversation said 10 years from now everyone is going to be naming Nirvana on their list. I'm not sure if I agree with that, but I know that even if they do, Nirvana not only covered Leadbelly, but can most likely be traced as well to some classic rock acts, who had at one time or another been highly influenced by the blues.
Examples of this can be found online and in publications showcasing interviews of artists, local and international. In a search for Bessie Smith on MySpace, I found six fan pages created in her honor. Some include biography information, as well as pictures and recordings. Billie Holiday also has twenty-three MySpace pages dedicated to her. This is important because the women of the blues tie so closely to women in rock today. For example, Bessie Smith influenced Billie Holiday, who led to Dinah Washington, to Janis Joplin, and on to local Houston blues artist Carolyn Wonderland, and even some of today's biggest pop icons.
The blues is not only present in rock 'n' roll; it is also felt in soul and R & B recordings. Last month, an article on MTV.com declared Beyonce Knowles, a native Houstonian and international icon of Destiny's Child girl group, as well as a solo artist, is next returning to the big screen after her Dreamgirls debut, to star in the role of Etta James, famed blues singer, in the up-and-coming film, Cadillac Records.
In a related 2006 story also on MTV, pop singer Christina Aguilera participated in a photo shoot for InStyle Magazine, where she had the opportunity to pose for pictures with her self-described all-time favorite singer, Etta James. This also ties into the idea that modern artists feel the need to create a fiction, via memory or otherwise, to tie them to a revered master from another time in music, i.e. the blues.
"I've said it for the last seven years — since I had my first debut record out — in every interview, in every story, in every on- and off-camera question. I mean, all of Etta's old songs, countless songs I could name, I grew up listening to. That music was always such a huge escape for me, even from a young age," Aguilera said.
She also recounted a story of shopping for vintage records with her grandmother when she was seven years old, and immediately falling in love with the raw emotional sounds demonstrated in the earliest soul, blues, and jazz recordings. In the interview James seemed to recognize that influence in Aguilera's singing as well, and told her so. "It's like you were here many years ago," she said. "You don't look exactly like them, but there's something about you that's like Dinah Washington, Billie Holiday, those kinds of chicks. I've never seen a girl sing as tough as you sing, as little as you are. It's like you're an old soul."
As discussed, the blues has shown to be a pervasive part of American life. Even in popular music today, I believe it has great influence. Blues songs were about heartbreak, struggle, and basic human emotions people could relate to. The earliest singers were not classically trained, and the blues was thought to be a universal feeling. This is much like the lyrical content for a lot of popular songs, whether indie rock, pop punk, bubblegum songs by future American Idols, or alternative. Blues songs were personal. They were confessional, much like some of our favorite artists today.
I also think the success of the blues as an art form comes from the very instrument that expresses it: the guitar. If guitar is not going away, then certainly the blues never will, so whether in lyrics or instrumentation we are always going to experience the blues.
I once made a British friend, Tom, while working as a camp counselor in Seattle. I remember sitting at a pier on the Vaughn Bay with a bandana in my hair, playing my guitar. It was Tom's first time in America, working at this camp for the summer, and he said before it was over, he was going to participate in American life by purchasing his own acoustic guitar. He told me in England, going to the University there wasn't like being in college here. He had not the same experiences I had of going to parties or hanging outside the dorms while people passed a guitar around and played to each other. He said he wanted to take that home with him, and he did. He bought one, and I taught him a couple songs before the summer ended.
An acoustic guitar has many advantages. It is relatively cheap if you're not picky, and one of the greatest things about it is that it is so portable. A guitar is also unique in that it can be used solitarily or in combination with other musicians. It is also easy to learn, or at least to fake it. Most people I know at school can play at least one song, and the thing about guitar is that most general audiences don't notice mistakes, so you don't have to be great to be able to play for people. This dates back to the original blues players making music based on what they felt, rather than what they were taught.
***
Hey guys -- I've just been learning some really interesting shit this semester, and wanted to share it. Please let me know what your thoughts are, and if you read this far, thank you.
-c
Labels: College, Music, Sociology, The Blues
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