Delta Blues

Type of blues music from which other blues forms evolved. The Mississippi Delta blues developed in an area encompassing the south-central section of the state of Mississippi, the southeastern edge of Arkansas, and southwest Tennessee. In this area, African and African American musical traditions and cultures—which included the field holler, work songs, the spirituals, and sermons—came together to form a unique sound—the Delta blues.

The blues heard in the twentieth century, or even the twenty-first century, owe much to the music that enslaved African Americans produced prior to the Civil War. Before the war, slaves in the South often used washboards, metal strings nailed into porches, spoons, and banjos to produce their music. They also employed hand clapping for percussion effects. By the time of the Civil War, cheap guitars began to replace the banjo as the main instrument used by black musicians. Slaves sang of hardship, pain, joy, and loneliness, not knowing that by doing so, they were creating a unique musical art form.

Between the Civil War and World War I, rural southern blacks traveled across the South, influencing all who heard their music. And their music was unique. With limited resources, they used their voices as instruments. The unique vocalizations became a hallmark of the Delta blues style, regarded as one of the most elemental forms of blues, mainly because of its musical simplicity.

The Delta blues are characterized by simple melodies, moaning vocalizations, spoken lyrics, and uneven rhyming patterns. Early on, Delta blues artists often worked solo, accompanying themselves on the harmonica or the guitar. Black blues artists played their variety of blues everywhere—at train stations, saw mills, and even on the streets. Around 1903, a black bandleader named W. C. Handy first heard Delta blues king Charley Patton singing barefoot [Page 254]at a train station in Tutwiler, Mississippi. Patton (1891–1934) is considered one of the earliest and most influential blues singers.

As a young man, Patton became a traveling musician, playing at towns up and down the Mississippi River. He barely made a living, but as he became more popular, he traveled to Texas, Tennessee, Georgia, Missouri, and Illinois. Many of Patton's songs, such as “Down the Dirt Road Blues,” tell of the harsh conditions that blacks lived under in the South. He is also known for having a hoarse and loud singing voice, which, although unique, made him difficult to understand. Nevertheless, Patton influenced a large number of blues artists, including Big Joe Williams, Bukka White, Howlin' Wolf, Tommy Johnson, and Johnson's partner, Willie Brown. Considered the first great Delta blues artist, Patton's legacy had a major impact on the genre.

Willie Brown (1900–1952) was another musical artist who had a great influence on the origin and development of the Delta blues. Brown, who regularly toured with Charley Patton and the blues musician Son House, was known mostly as an accompanist, although he did record three outstanding solo performances. Son House (1902–1988), born Eddie James House Jr. and a former preacher, brought strong emotions to his blues performances. Although he sang the blues with both Patton and Brown, he maintained a unique style all his own, one marked by its fiery intensity. House is credited with having the greatest influence on Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, and Bonnie Raitt.

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