Early Blues Music - Part 2: Sub-Genres of Classic and Country Blues

Early blues cannot be discussed without looking at the sub-genres within it. These are classic and country blues.

Classic Blues

Classic blues is more obviously connected with jazz, Tin Pan Alley, and ragtime due to its more polished sound. Both musically and lyrically it walks a line between those influences and country blues. A given song in the style could be composed either in the standardized Tin Pan Alley style with the typical chorus and verse structure or in a more unorthodox country blues style which may or may not have a chorus and is often much longer than the average pop song. Harmonies and instrumentation are where the great differences lie, with classic blues having much more complicated versions of each. This sound was partially a result of location. Cities were the centers of the professional music industry and in order for blues to find popularity there it had to appeal to audiences who were used to a more sophisticated sound.

It is important to realize that classic was not simply an evolutionary result of country blues. It is true that cities experienced an influx of black immigrants from the Delta beginning in 1910 with an even greater increase post World War II and that these immigrants brought with them their love of the blues. Though this led to a great wave of more classic oriented delta performers, classic blues had existed on its own for many years prior. In fact, classic blues existed as early as 1902, alongside early country blues. The classic style of female performers such as Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey were popular at the same time, and with many of the same people, as country blues performers like Blind Lemon Jefferson and Charley Patton.

None of the friction that we might expected existed between the two styles. Despite the difference of their styles they were promoted in the same fashion and to the same audiences. Record company produced biographies were created to heighten interest in blues artists by emphasizing just how “blues” they were. Blind Lemon Jefferson is described as a man who suffered “a heart-rending fate” who “moaned his weird songs as a means of forgetting his affliction.” Similarly, Ma Rainey is described as singing “queer music” to bring the North “a better understand of the sorrowful hearts of the [the South's] people” (Paramount Book of Blues). These performers come from country blues and classic blues respectively, yet the same qualities are emphasized by these biographies. It is the uniqueness of the sound and the emotional quality which will identify them to buyers as the blues, not the different styles. Today it is essentially country blues artists that are revered as leaders of the genre while classic singers are often forgotten or considered to be more jazz or ragtime than blues. But at the time each was seen as the blues and neither was held as more or less authentic than the other.

Country Blues

Country blues is often seen as the quintessential blues. While classic blues thrived in the city, country blues flourished in the South. Like classic blues it became increasingly popular in the 1900s, spread across the South by traveling musicians. Though classic blues and jazz recording artists often drew from country blues it was not recorded in its own right until the 1926 recordings of Blind Lemon Jefferson. As a result, for the first two decades in the life of the blues it was classic blues that had a wide audience while country blues remained a more underground scene. Though it may be country blues that is so well regarded now, it was classic blues that was first popular.

The most obvious difference of country blues is choice of instruments. It is here that the relationship between the blues and the guitar begins, with that instrument serving as the main source of accompaniment for country blues singers. While the more city oriented classic blues performers had the luxury of backing by bands, you would not come across many of those in a rural area. Country blues performers had to find a way to accompany themselves. This facilitated the image of the lone blues man which is so prevalent in the modern audience's ideas of the blues. There was also a greater level of experimentation with instruments here than in classic blues. Guitarist use their hands, metal, and glass to obtain creative sounds. Because these artists typically had little money, like most in rural areas during this period, they had to employ these cheaper methods to create different sounds.

The singing style was also a far cry from the polished tones of the blues queens. It was a good thing for a country blues singer to have a harsh and untrained voice. The “field holler” was a staple their vocal style and was a loud shouting that descended from African-American field workers. As advertisements from the period show, the artists ability to “moan”, “yell”, and generally create an emotional sound was key. It was more important to have passion and to convey feelings to the audience than to actually sing well because thats what an audience expected from the blues.

Emotion 

Emotions are also the key similarity between country and classic blues. Alan Lomax explains the blues as “a way of being as well as a way of singing."

The songs of Blind Lemon Jefferson are prime examples of country blues. Through lyrics and style they convey sadness, longing, and pain. These kinds of intense emotions are identifiers of the blues to the audience. The following are lyrics from two of his works:

Have you ever heard that coffin sound

Then you know the poor boy is in the ground

Oh, dig my grave with a silver blade

- See That My Grave's Kept Clean

Lord, I'm tired of sleeping in a cell

I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Nell

I wrote to the governor...

Didn't get no answer...

- Prison Cell Blues

Bessie Smith is arguably one of the greatest artists of the classic blues style and enjoyed great popularity. She too was known for convincingly portraying sadness and pain through song. The following are lyrics from two of her works:

I dreamed last night the man I love was dead

I went to the graveyard, knelt down on my knees

I asked the grave digger to give me back my real good man please

- Graveyard Dream Blues

I don't mind bein' in jail

but I got to stay there so long...

well hello blues, how do you do

I just come here to have a few words with you

- Jail House Blues

Despite being from two different styles of blues the topics and lyrics of these four excerpts are strikingly similar. The themes of death, romantic woes, economic troubles, and general misfortune prevail in blues music no matter what the style. Comparing the performance of these two artists is also key. Smith is clearer and more polished in comparison to Jefferson's rough and gritty sound. Yet both manage to display great emotional pain. This too can be said for the country and classic blues styles as a whole. Authentic blues meant that a performer tackled sorrow in their music and manage to convey that sorrow to the audience. This standard was indiscriminate of style, making the classic blues just as authentic as country blues at the time.