Everybody knows a little about the blues but most don’t know the history and origins of it. The blues built is foundation of the backs of the work songs down in the South. From slave songs, negro spirituals, and field hollers, the blues emerged. Blues paved the way for Rock n Roll and doesn’t always get its credit.
The blues like any other negro art form was a creative expression for how one or many were feeling at the time. Artists put their feelings and memories into these songs and gave us something to connect to. The Blues gave birth to Rock n Roll but many forget the blues because it was stolen and recreated as Rock n’ Roll. Rock n’ Roll is just the blues sped up. Elvis Presley was notorious for not writing his music but taking other people’s music and selling it as his own. He did this with Little Walter’s “My Babe” and Big Mama Thornton’s “Hound Dog” just to name a few.
Stolen but not completely forgotten, the Blues still lives on. Recreations of movies and stories of Blues’ artists such as Dreamgirls and Cadillac Records shine a light on the the blues music industry and everything the black community had to endure during the popular time of blues music. The Blues gave us songs and musical legends that we will never forget.
