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Slave Songs of the United States was a book that contained several songs sung by African-Americans during the period of slavery, and it was the first of its kind. -
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Minstrel shows were an American theatrical form, that were embraced by African-Americans who began performing in these shows following the abolishment of slavery. It provided a career start for many influential musicians such as Ma Rainey and Rufus Thomas. -
W.C Handy is known as the "father of blues". -
Blind Lemon Jefferson was one of the most popular blues singers of the Roaring Twenties. During his short life, he wrote and recorded his own songs, and traveled with other Texas Blues artists. He has been called the "Father of Texas Blues". -
Maple Leaf Rag was a ragtime song for the piano, and it heavily influenced the development of the blues genre. -
In the South, blues music was having an impact on everyone, and reporters were writing about the new music genre.
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W.C Handy has stated that he first heard the blues at a train station, listening to a stranger playing his guitar and picking it with a knife blade.
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Anthony Maggio's "I Got The Blues" song often referred to as the first piece of blues music. -
In autumn of 1912, the first blues songs were published as sheet music. -
Unlike the blues of the previous decade, which were purely instrumental, the "Crazy Blues" introduced vocals. -
In 1923, Sylvester Weaver was the first to record the "slide guitar" using a knife as a slide on the guitar's fretboard. -
Blues music is now available to a wider audience across the country thanks to the invention of electronic recording equipment. -
In 1929, African-Americans from the South moved north to New York and Chicago. In Chicago, a new type of blues is introduced, called "Chicago Blues". It is more powerful than anything before it. -
In 1933, "Lead Belly" is the first artist to introduce blues to a wide audience outside the southern part of the country.
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In 1939, Eddie Durham used an electric guitar in his music, and it was the first time an electric guitar was recorded. By the 1950s, the electric guitar became the main instrument of a new genre known as "Rock N Roll", and blues continued to develop, while people became more interested in the new genre.