Electric blues is blues music distinguished by the use of electric amplification for musical instruments. The guitar was the first instrument to be popularly amplified and used by early pioneers T-Bone Walker in the late 1930s and John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters in the 1940s. Their styles developed into West Coast blues, Detroit blues, and post-World War II Chicago blues, which differed from earlier, predominantly acoustic-style blues. By the early 1950s, Little Walter was a featured soloist on blues harmonica using a small hand-held microphone fed into a guitar amplifier. Although it took a little longer, the electric bass guitar gradually replaced the upright bass by the early 1960s. Keyboards, especially electric organs and electric pianos, later became widely used in electric blues.
Early development (1930s-1940s)
The blues, like jazz, probably began to be amplified in the late 1930s.V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra, S. T. Erlewine, All music guide to rock: the definitive guide to rock, pop, and soul (Backbeat books, 3rd ed., 2002), pp. 1351-2. The first star of the electric blues is generally recognized as being T-Bone Walker; born in Texas but moving to Los Angeles in the mid-1930s, he combined blues with elements of swing music and jazz in a long and prolific career. In its early stages electric blues typically used amplified electric guitars, double bass (which was progressively replaced by bass guitar), and harmonica played through a microphone and a power amp or a guitar amplifier.V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra, S. T. Erlewine, All music guide to the blues: the definitive guide to the blues (Backbeat Books, 3rd ed., 2003), pp. 694-95.
By the late 1940s several Chicago-based blues artists had begun to use amplification, including John Lee Williamson and Johnny Shines. Early recordings in the new style were made in 1947 and 1948 by musicians such as Johnny Young, Floyd Jones, and Snooky Pryor. The format was perfected by Muddy Waters, who utilized various small groups that provided a strong rhythm section and powerful harmonica. His "I Can't Be Satisfied" (1948) was followed by a series of ground-breaking recordings.M. A. Humphry, "Holy Blues: The Gospel Tradition," in L. Cohn, M. K. Aldin and B. Bastin, eds, Nothing But the Blues: The Music and the Musicians (Abbeville Press, 1993), p. 180. Chicago blues was influenced to a large extent by the Mississippi blues style, because many performers had migrated from the Mississippi region. Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon and Jimmy Reed were all born in Mississippi and moved to Chicago during the Great Migration. In addition to electric guitar, harmonica, and a rhythm section of bass and drums, some performers such as J. T. Brown who played in Elmore James's bands or J. B. Lenoir's also used saxophones, largely as a supporting instrument. Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller) and Big Walter Horton were among the best-known harmonica (called "blues harp" by blues musicians) players of the early Chicago blues scene and the sound of electric instruments and harmonica is often seen as characteristic of electric Chicago blues.R. Unterberger, Music USA: a coast-to-coast tour of American music: the artists, the venues, the stories, and the essential recordings (Rough Guides, 1999), p. 250. Muddy Waters and Elmore James were known for their innovative use of slide electric guitar.G. Herzhaft, Encyclopedia of the Blues (University of Arkansas Press, 1997), p. 95. Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters were known for their deep, "gravelly" voices.G. Herzhaft, Encyclopedia of the Blues (University of Arkansas Press, 1997), p. 185. Bassist and composer Willie Dixon played a major role on the Chicago blues scene. He composed and wrote many standard blues songs of the period, such as "Hoochie Coochie Man", "I Just Want to Make Love to You" (both penned for Muddy Waters) and, "Wang Dang Doodle", "Spoonful" and "Back Door Man" for Howlin' Wolf.G. Herzhaft, Encyclopedia of the Blues (University of Arkansas Press, 1997), p. 56. Most artists of the Chicago blues style recorded for the Chicago-based Chess Records and Checker Records labels; there were also smaller blues labels in this era including Vee-Jay Records and J.O.B. Records.Victor Coelho, The Cambridge companion to the guitar (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), p. 98.
Post-World War II urban expansion After World War II, from 1946 to 1960, amplified blues music became more widespread across American cities. Amplified blues music became popular in American cities that had seen widespread African American migration, such as Chicago, Memphis, Detroit, St. Louis, and the West Coast. The initial impulse was to be heard above the noise of lively rent parties. Playing in small venues, electric blues bands tended to remain modest in size compared with larger jazz bands.
Following the Great Depression and World Wars, many African Americans fled the South. Blues music scattered across the country, especially in urban cities. Shifting from the Mississippi delta to Chicago, blues artists such as John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson started experimenting with amplification. In cities like Chicago and Detroit, blues music transformed slightly with the implementation of electric guitars and amplified harmonicas. The lyrics of blues music adopted urban themes, with the Chicago blues being one of the most influential subgenres to emerge in the post-World War II period. Infamous blues artists such as Muddy Waters, Elmore James, and Howlin' Wolf originated during this period. This time period coincided with the emergence of rock and roll music, which later became one of the most culturally and commercially influential music genres of the 20th-century. By 1951, Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm recorded "Rocket 88," often cited as one of the first rock and roll records. The foundation for rock and roll lead guitar was paved by Chuck Berry's "Maybellene" in 1955.
Regional developments (1950s-1960s) In the late 1950s, the West Side style blues emerged in Chicago with major figures including Magic Sam, Jimmy Dawkins, Magic Slim and Otis Rush.E. M. Komara, Encyclopedia of the blues (Routledge, 2006), p. 49. West Side clubs were more accessible to white audiences, but performers were mainly black, or part of mixed combos.R. Unterberger, Music USA: a coast-to-coast tour of American music: the artists, the venues, the stories, and the essential recordings (Rough Guides, 1999), p. 256. West Side blues incorporated elements of blues rock but with a greater emphasis on standards and traditional blues song forms.C. Rotella, Good with Their Hands: Boxers, Bluesmen, and Other Characters from the Rust Belt (Chicago: University of California Press, 2004), pp. 68-70. Albert King, Buddy Guy, and Luther Allison had a West Side style that was dominated by amplified electric lead guitar.
Memphis, with its flourishing acoustic blues scene based in Beale Street, also developed an electric blues sound during the early 1950s. Sam Phillips' Sun Records company recorded musicians such as Howlin' Wolf (before he moved to Chicago), Willie Nix, Ike Turner, and B.B. King.J. Broven, Record Makers and Breakers: Voices of the Independent Rock ʹnʹ Roll Pioneers Music in American Life (University of Illinois Press, 2009), pp. 149-54. Other Memphis blues musicians involved with Sun Records included Joe Hill Louis, Willie Johnson and Pat Hare who introduced electric guitar techniques such as distorted and power chords, anticipating elements of heavy metal music.Robert Palmer, "Church of the Sonic Guitar", pp. 13-38 in Anthony DeCurtis, Present Tense, Duke University Press, 1992, pp. 24-27. . These players had an influence on early rock and 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 and roll.V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra, S. T. Erlewine, All music guide to the blues: the definitive guide to the blues (Backbeat Books, 3rd ed., 2003), pp. 690-91. Booker T. & the M.G.'s carried the electric blues style into the 1960s.
Detroit-based John Lee Hooker pursued a unique brand of electric blues based on his deep rough voice accompanied by a single electric guitar. Though not directly influenced by boogie-woogie, his "groovy" style is sometimes called "guitar boogie". His first hit, "Boogie Chillen", reached #1 on the R&B charts in 1949.L. Bjorn, Before Motown (University of Michigan Press, 2001), p. 175. He continued to play and record until his death in 2001.P. Buckley, The rough guide to rock (Rough Guides, 3rd ed., 2003), p. 505.
The New Orleans blues musician Guitar Slim recorded "The Things That I Used to Do" (1953), which featured an electric guitar solo with distorted overtones and became a major R&B hit in 1954. It is regarded as one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll, and contributed to the development of soul music.R. Unterberger, "Louisiana blues", in V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra, S. T. Erlewine, eds, All Music Guide to the Blues: The Definitive Guide to the Blues (Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2003), , pp. 687-8.
In the 1950s, blues had a huge influence on mainstream American popular music. While popular musicians like Bo DiddleyG. Herzhaft, Encyclopedia of the Blues (University of Arkansas Press, 1997), p. 53. and Chuck Berry,G. Herzhaft, Encyclopedia of the Blues (University of Arkansas Press, 1997), p. 11. both recording for Chess, were influenced by the Chicago blues, their enthusiastic playing styles departed from the melancholy aspects of blues and played a major role in the development of rock and roll.M. Campbell, ed., Popular Music in America: And the Beat Goes on (Cengage Learning, 3rd ed., 2008), p. 168. Chicago blues also influenced Louisiana's zydeco music,G. Herzhaft, Encyclopedia of the Blues (University of Arkansas Press, 1997), p. 236. with Clifton ChenierG. Herzhaft, Encyclopedia of the Blues (University of Arkansas Press, 1997), p. 35. using blues accents. Zydeco musicians used electric solo guitar and Cajun arrangements of blues standards.
British electric styles
British blues emerged from the skiffle and folk club scene of the late 1950s, particularly in London, which included the playing of American acoustic blues. Critical was the visit of Muddy Waters in 1958, who initially shocked British audiences by playing amplified electric blues, but who was soon performing to ecstatic crowds and rave reviews.V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra, S. T. Erlewine, eds, All Music Guide to the Blues: The Definitive Guide to the Blues (Backbeat, 3rd edn., 2003), pp. 700-2. This inspired guitarist and blues harpist Cyril Davies and guitarist Alexis Korner to plug in and they began to play a high-powered electric blues that became the model for the subgenre, forming the band Blues Incorporated. Blues Incorporated was something of a clearing house for British blues musicians in the later 1950s and early 1960s, with many joining, or sitting in on sessions. These included future Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts and Brian Jones; Cream founders Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker; and Graham Bond and Long John Baldry. Blues Incorporated was given a residency at the Marquee Club and it was from there that in 1962 they took the name of the first British Blues album, R&B from the Marquee for Decca, but split before its release. The model of British rhythm and blues was emulated by a number of bands including the Rolling Stones, the Animals, the Small Faces, and the Yardbirds.