Memphis blues
Encyclopedia
The Memphis blues is a style of blues
music that was created in the 1920s and 1930s by Memphis-area musicians like Frank Stokes, Sleepy John Estes
, Furry Lewis
and Memphis Minnie
. The style was popular in vaudeville
and medicine show
s, and was associated with Memphis' main entertainment area, Beale Street
.
's Jug Stompers and the Memphis Jug Band
, were extremely popular practitioners of Memphis blues. The jug band style emphasized the danceable, syncopated rhythms of early jazz
and a range of other archaic folk styles. It was played on simple, sometimes homemade, instruments such as harmonica
s, violin
s, mandolin
s, banjo
s, and guitars, backed by washboards, kazoo
, guimbarde
and jugs blown to supply the bass.
After World War II
, as African-Americans left the Mississippi Delta and other impoverished areas of the south for urban areas, many musicians gravitated to Memphis' blues scene, changing the classic Memphis blues sound. Musicians such as Howlin' Wolf
, Willie Nix
, Ike Turner
, and B.B.King performed on Beale Street and in West Memphis, and recorded some of the classic electric blues, rhythm and blues and rock & roll records for labels such as Sun Records
. Sam Phillips
' Sun Records company recorded musicians such as Howlin' Wolf
(before he moved to Chicago), Willie Nix
, Ike Turner
, and B.B.King. These players had a strong influence on later musicians in these styles, notably the early rock & rollers and rockabillies
, many of whom also recorded for Sun Records. After Phillips discovered Elvis Presley
in 1954, the Sun label turned to the rapidly expanding white audience and started recording mostly rock 'n' roll.
[Victor Military Band 1914]
[Mae West]
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
music that was created in the 1920s and 1930s by Memphis-area musicians like Frank Stokes, Sleepy John Estes
Sleepy John Estes
John Adam Estes , best known as Sleepy John Estes or Sleepy John, was a American blues guitarist, songwriter and vocalist, born in Ripley, Lauderdale County, Tennessee.-Career:...
, Furry Lewis
Furry Lewis
Furry Lewis was an American country blues guitarist and songwriter from Memphis, Tennessee. Lewis was one of the first of the old-time blues musicians of the 1920s to be brought out of retirement, and given a new lease of recording life, by the folk blues revival of the 1960s.-Life and...
and Memphis Minnie
Memphis Minnie
Memphis Minnie was an American blues guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. She was the only female blues artist considered a match to male contemporaries as both a singer and an instrumentalist.-Career:...
. The style was popular in vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
and medicine show
Medicine show
Medicine shows were traveling horse and wagon teams which peddled "miracle cure" medications and other products between various entertainment acts. Their precise origins unknown, medicine shows were common in the 19th century United States...
s, and was associated with Memphis' main entertainment area, Beale Street
Beale Street
Beale Street is a street in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee, which runs from the Mississippi River to East Street, a distance of approximately . It is a significant location in the city's history, as well as in the history of the blues. Today, the blues clubs and restaurants that line Beale Street are...
.
History
In addition to guitar-based blues, jug bands, such as Gus CannonGus Cannon
Gus Cannon was an American blues musician, who helped to popularize jug bands in the 1920s and 1930s. There is doubt about his birth year; his tombstone gives the date as 1874....
's Jug Stompers and the Memphis Jug Band
Memphis Jug Band
The Memphis Jug Band was an American musical group in the late 1920s and early to mid 1930s. The band featured harmonicas, violins, mandolins, banjos, and guitars, backed by washboards, kazoo, and jugs blown to supply the bass; they played in a variety of musical styles...
, were extremely popular practitioners of Memphis blues. The jug band style emphasized the danceable, syncopated rhythms of early jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and a range of other archaic folk styles. It was played on simple, sometimes homemade, instruments such as harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
s, violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
s, mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
s, banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
s, and guitars, backed by washboards, kazoo
Kazoo
The kazoo is a wind instrument which adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. The kazoo is a type of mirliton, which is a membranophone, a device which modifies the sound of a person's voice by way of a vibrating membrane."Kazoo" was the name given by...
, guimbarde
Jew's harp
The Jew's harp, jaw harp, mouth harp, Ozark harp, trump or juice harp, is thought to be one of the oldest musical instruments in the world; a musician apparently playing it can be seen in a Chinese drawing from the 4th century BC...
and jugs blown to supply the bass.
After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, as African-Americans left the Mississippi Delta and other impoverished areas of the south for urban areas, many musicians gravitated to Memphis' blues scene, changing the classic Memphis blues sound. Musicians such as Howlin' Wolf
Howlin' Wolf
Chester Arthur Burnett , known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player....
, Willie Nix
Willie Nix
Willie Nix was an American Chicago blues singer and drummer, active in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, in the 1940s and 1950s.-Life and career:...
, Ike Turner
Ike Turner
Isaac Wister Turner was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, arranger, talent scout, and record producer. In a career that lasted more than half a century, his repertoire included blues, soul, rock, and funk...
, and B.B.King performed on Beale Street and in West Memphis, and recorded some of the classic electric blues, rhythm and blues and rock & roll records for labels such as Sun Records
Sun Records
Sun Records is a record label founded in Memphis, Tennessee, starting operations on March 27, 1952.Founded by Sam Phillips, Sun Records was known for giving notable musicians such as Elvis Presley , Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash...
. Sam Phillips
Sam Phillips
Samuel Cornelius Phillips , better known as Sam Phillips, was an American businessman, record executive, record producer and DJ who played an important role in the emergence of rock and roll as the major form of popular music in the 1950s...
' Sun Records company recorded musicians such as Howlin' Wolf
Howlin' Wolf
Chester Arthur Burnett , known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player....
(before he moved to Chicago), Willie Nix
Willie Nix
Willie Nix was an American Chicago blues singer and drummer, active in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, in the 1940s and 1950s.-Life and career:...
, Ike Turner
Ike Turner
Isaac Wister Turner was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, arranger, talent scout, and record producer. In a career that lasted more than half a century, his repertoire included blues, soul, rock, and funk...
, and B.B.King. These players had a strong influence on later musicians in these styles, notably the early rock & rollers and rockabillies
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
, many of whom also recorded for Sun Records. After Phillips discovered Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
in 1954, the Sun label turned to the rapidly expanding white audience and started recording mostly rock 'n' roll.
Memphis blues musicians
- W. C. HandyW. C. HandyWilliam Christopher Handy was a blues composer and musician. He was widely known as the "Father of the Blues"....
- B. B. KingB. B. KingRiley B. King , known by the stage name B.B. King, is an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter.Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at No.3 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. According to Edward M...
- Frank Stokes
- Junior WellsJunior WellsJunior Wells , born Amos Wells Blakemore Jr., was an American Chicago blues vocalist, harmonica player, and recording artist...
- Furry LewisFurry LewisFurry Lewis was an American country blues guitarist and songwriter from Memphis, Tennessee. Lewis was one of the first of the old-time blues musicians of the 1920s to be brought out of retirement, and given a new lease of recording life, by the folk blues revival of the 1960s.-Life and...
- Willie NixWillie NixWillie Nix was an American Chicago blues singer and drummer, active in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, in the 1940s and 1950s.-Life and career:...
- Sleepy John EstesSleepy John EstesJohn Adam Estes , best known as Sleepy John Estes or Sleepy John, was a American blues guitarist, songwriter and vocalist, born in Ripley, Lauderdale County, Tennessee.-Career:...
- Ida CoxIda CoxIda Cox was an African American singer and vaudeville performer, best known for her blues performances and recordings...
- Junior ParkerJunior ParkerJunior Parker was an American Memphis blues singer and musician. He is best remembered for his unique voice which has been described as "honeyed," and "velvet-smooth"...
- Memphis MinnieMemphis MinnieMemphis Minnie was an American blues guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. She was the only female blues artist considered a match to male contemporaries as both a singer and an instrumentalist.-Career:...
- Howlin' WolfHowlin' WolfChester Arthur Burnett , known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player....
- Rosco GordonRosco GordonRosco Gordon was an American blues singer and songwriter. He is best known for his 1952 #1 R&B hit single, "Booted", and two #2 singles "No More Doggin'" and "Just a Little Bit" .-Biography:...
- Bobby SowellBobby SowellBobby Sowell is an American musician, pianist and composer. He spent much of his early years playing rockabilly piano in the late 1950s, playing organ in rock and roll bands in the 1960s and playing piano in numerous country music bands in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s...
- Robert WilkinsRobert WilkinsRobert Timothy Wilkins was an American country blues guitarist and vocalist, of African American and Cherokee descent....
- Doctor RossDoctor RossDoctor Ross , aka Doctor Ross, the harmonica boss, was an American blues singer, guitarist, harmonica player and drummer — a one-man band— who was born Charles Isaiah Ross, in Tunica, Mississippi....
- Joe Hill LouisJoe Hill LouisJoe Hill Louis , born Lester Hill, was an American singer, guitarist, harmonica player and one-man band...
[Victor Military Band 1914]
[Mae West]