“B” is for Blues

“B” is for Blues. A powerful form of secular African American musical and cultural expression, blues developed in the South around the turn of the twentieth century, a product of the large plantations and railroad, mining, and logging camps where Black workers congregated. With thickly idiomatic, metaphorically charged lyrics, early blues songs confronted everyday life with humor and resilience but also reflected the oppression and social isolation faced by African Americans during the Jim Crow era. As blues spread throughout the South, regional styles and traditions developed. In South Carolina, the hotbed was the Greenville-Spartanburg area where a coterie of talented guitarists contributed to a style that became known as the “Piedmont” or East Coast school of blues. South Carolina's most prominent blues artists included Willie Walker, Rev. “Blind” Gary Davis, Drink Small, Nappy Brown, and Cootie Stark.