blues

References & Edit History Related Topics

Images, Videos & Interactives

Map of the Blues Highway, U.S. Route 61, marked in pink with music note icons highlighting key blues cities, including off-route cities like Chicago and Nashville.

Blind Lemon Jefferson, c. 1928

Ma Rainey (center) and her band, 1923

Phil Chess, Etta James, and Ralph Bass pose together in Chess Records Studios, Chicago, 1960, with a microphone and recording equipment in front of them.

Celebrating Robert Johnson

Portrait of American composer W.C. Handy in a tuxedo, seated with one hand resting on a trumpet case, circa 1930s.

Meade “Lux” Lewis

Lonnie Johnson wearing a suit and bow tie, playing an acoustic guitar and standing in front of a microphone, circa 1940s.

Portrait of American singer Alberta Hunter, resting her head on her hand and looking toward the camera, wearing earrings and a ring.

At a Glance

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blues: Media

music

Videos

The Origin of the Blues and the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, Mississippi

The Origin of the Blues and the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, Mississippi

A discussion of the origins of the blues, from the documentary The Blues Lives...

Video: Great Museums Television (A Britannica Publishing Partner)

Images

Bessie Smith

Bessie Smith

Bessie Smith, photograph by Carl Van Vechten, 1936.

Carl Van Vechten Estate/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. LC-USZ62-11788

Blind Lemon Jefferson, c. 1928

Blind Lemon Jefferson, c. 1928

© Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Ma Rainey (center) and her band, 1923

Ma Rainey (center) and her band, 1923

Archive Photos

Phil Chess, Etta James, and Ralph Bass pose together in Chess Records Studios, Chicago, 1960, with a microphone and recording equipment in front of them.

Chess Records

Phil Chess (left), singer Etta James (center), and producer Ralph Bass posing for...

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Celebrating Robert Johnson

Celebrating Robert Johnson

Musicians performing at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York City, during a celebration...

© Shahar Azran—WireImage/Getty Images

Portrait of American composer W.C. Handy in a tuxedo, seated with one hand resting on a trumpet case, circa 1930s.

W.C. Handy

W.C. Handy, c. 1930s.

© Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Meade “Lux” Lewis

Meade “Lux” Lewis

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Lonnie Johnson wearing a suit and bow tie, playing an acoustic guitar and standing in front of a microphone, circa 1940s.

Lonnie Johnson

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Portrait of American singer Alberta Hunter, resting her head on her hand and looking toward the camera, wearing earrings and a ring.

Alberta Hunter

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Muddy Waters

Muddy Waters

The electric guitar became central to blues through artists such as Muddy Waters,...

Eugene Adebari—REX/Shutterstock.com

Bo Diddley

Bo Diddley

REX/Shutterstock.com

Howlin Wolf, Chester Arthur Burnett, singing passionately into a microphone, 1964.

Howlin' Wolf

American blues singer and composer Howlin' Wolf, 1964.

© Pictorial Press Ltd./Alamy

Bobby Blue Bland performs on stage with a band in front of an audience dancing, c. 1964, palm tree props and draped curtains decorate the stage.

Bobby “Blue” Bland, 1964

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Elmore James, wearing a suit and tie, sits holding an electric guitar, looking slightly to the side in a black-and-white portrait.

Elmore James

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Mississippi John Hurt

Mississippi John Hurt

Bernard Gotfryd Photograph Collection, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (reproduction no. LC-DIG-gtfy-01612)

Sister Rosetta Tharpe stands in a long dress, smiling and playing an acoustic guitar in a studio portrait, circa 1940.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe, c.1940

James Kriegsmann—Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Junior Wells

Junior Wells

Masahiro Sumori

B.B. King plays an electric guitar and sings on stage, wearing a patterned jacket and bow tie, with a microphone and stage lights in the background.

B.B. King, 2007

© Jeff Daly—FilmMagic/Getty Images

Buddy Guy

Buddy Guy

James Mitchell—Ebony Collection/AP Images

Alexis Korner plays guitar on stage beside Cyril Davies, who holds a microphone, with drummer Charlie Watts visible in the background at Ealing Jazz Club in 1962.

Alexis Korner (playing guitar), Cyril Davies (holding microphone), and Charlie Watts (playing drums in background), 1962

© David Redfern—Redferns/Getty Images

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones

© Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers band members, including Mick Taylor, Chris Mercer, Keith Tillman, Keef Hartley, and Dick Heckstall-Smith, sit together on a playground seesaw in London, 1967.

John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, 1967

© Ivan Keeman—Redferns/Getty Images

Janis Joplin seated indoors, wearing a crocheted vest over a dark shirt, with long hair loose and several bracelets on her wrist, photographed in April 1969.

Janis Joplin, 1969

Evening Standard—Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Wilson Pickett laughs while Duane Allman, holding an electric guitar, smiles beside him in a recording studio at Muscle Shoals in 1968.

Duane Allman (right) and Wilson Pickett at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, 1968

© Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Koko Taylor

Koko Taylor

Koko Taylor.

© Marc Norberg

Etta Baker, wearing a white cap and dark suit, sits on stage playing an electric guitar and singing into microphones at an outdoor music festival.

Etta Baker

© Sylvia Pitcher—Redferns/Getty Images

Taj Mahal, 2007

Taj Mahal, 2007

Tsui

Stevie Ray Vaughan performs on stage wearing a red suit and wide-brimmed hat, playing a white electric guitar and singing into a microphone, circa 1984.

Stevie Ray Vaughan, 1984

Cheryl Chenet—Corbis Historical/Getty Images

Johnny Winter, 2011

Johnny Winter, 2011

© S. Kuelcue/Shutterstock.com

Bonnie Raitt

Bonnie Raitt

John Edwards

Eric Gales, 2010

Eric Gales, 2010

Michael Smith/Alamy

Christone Kingfish Ingram plays an electric guitar on stage at Ground Zero Blues Club, with a neon club sign behind him and a drummer in the background.

Christone “Kingfish” Ingram

Christone “Kingfish” Ingram playing his electric guitar at Ground Zero Blues Club...

© Pierre Jean Durieu/Shutterstock.com

Bobby Rush, wearing a white suit, energetically sings into a microphone onstage at night, with colorful stage lights and band equipment visible in the background.

Bluesman Bobby Rush

Bobby Rush performing in Clarksdale, Mississippi, 2000.

© Linda Vartoogian—Archive Photos/Getty Images

The Weary Blues

The Weary Blues

Dust jacket of The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes, illustration by Miguel...

James S. Jaffe Rare Books, Haverford, PA

Interactives

Map of the Blues Highway, U.S. Route 61, marked in pink with music note icons highlighting key blues cities, including off-route cities like Chicago and Nashville.

Map of the Blues Highway (U.S. Route 61)

An interactive map of the Blues Highway (U.S. Route 61), highlighting important blues...

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

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