The blues is a form of secular folk music created by African Americans before the turn of the 20th century, originally in the South. Although instrumental accompaniment is almost universal in the blues, the blues is essentially a vocal form. Blues songs are usually lyrical rather than narrative because the expression of feelings is foremost.
Blues styles include Mississippi Delta blues (an intensely emotional acoustic style that developed in the Delta region of northwestern Mississippi in the early 20th century), Chicago blues (an urban electric blues that developed in Chicago in the mid-20th century), and British blues (an urban electric style that developed in London clubs in the early and mid-1960s). Other particular styles also developed in Louisiana, Texas, and Georgia and the Carolinas.