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They begin touring America performing their spirituals for white audiences
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Mamie Smith and her Jazz Hounds record “Crazy Blues” for Okeh, the first blues recording by a black singer, triggering an enormous popular demand for blues recordings and “race” records
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Blind Lemon Jefferson—one of country blues’ big three, along with Charley Patton and Son House—begins his recording career with Paramount Records.
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The Golden Gate Quartet revolutionize gospel music with their elaborate, percussive jubilee-style vocals.
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The banjo hits it big when Bill Monroe adds banjo player Earl Scruggs and guitarist Lester Flatt to his band, creating the bluegrass sound.
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Honky-tonk country artist Hank Williams debuts at the Grand Ole Opry, performing “Lovesick Blues”
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Local blues sensation Riley King hosts and plays the “Pepticon Boy” show on WDIA radio in Memphis; he goes on to DJ as the “Beale Street Blues Boy,” later shortened to his nickname “B.B.” King.
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The Weavers score a Number One hit with a version of Lead Belly’s “Goodnight Irene,” creating a new sound that anticipates the folk revival
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Sam Phillips signs and records Elvis Presley. Their first single, “That’s All Right Mama,” a blues song written by Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup; the b-side is Bill Monroe’s bluegrass track, “Blue Moon of Kentucky”
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The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival becomes one of the most important roots music showcases in the world.
