Delta Blues
Traces Delta blues history within America's racial context, covering rural Mississippi origins, early recordings, migrations to Memphis and Chicago, radio, marketing to white audiences, and the 1960s reemergence.
Summary
What you’ll be able to do
Identify representative styles, performers, and formal patterns relating to Delta blues.
Identify major historical developments in the evolution of Delta blues.
Understand blues performers in terms of their personal and social lives, and distinguish between these individual lives and the mythologizing narratives offered in their place.
Describe and explain elements of blues and blues history verbally.
Construct knowledge about musical repertories by researching them online and directly listening to them.
Source: UW Guide
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Prerequisites
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Professors
Spring 2027No instructors recorded for this selection.
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Spring 2027Schedule loads here as you scroll.
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Student experience
the class
Traces the history of the blues in America's racial history. Begins by examining the living conditions that produced the blues in rural Mississippi (sharecropping, the cotton industry, the Great Flood of 1927). Continues by detailing the emergence of blues in the early recording industry (Paramount, OKeh), including the earliest examples (W.C. Handy, Mamie Smith), as well as the singers emerging in the 1920s (Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charley Patton, Robert Johnson). Follows migrations northward to Memphis (jug bands) and Chicago (electric blues), tracing the emerging importance of radio and live performance (King Biscuit Time, WDIA, the Chittlin' Circuit), living conditions in Chicago (Maxwell Street). Tracks early marketing of blues to white audiences (Josh White, Lead Belly). Ends with the reemergence of the blues as '60s folk music (Son House, Sonny Boy Williamson II) and British Invasion (Yardbirds). Supplemented with extensive musical selections, documentary footage of interviews.
difficulty & workload
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Topics
- Rural Mississippi living conditions: sharecropping, cotton industry, Great Flood of 1927.
- Early recording industry (Paramount, OKeh) and 1920s singers like W.C. Handy, Mamie Smith, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charley Patton, and Robert Johnson.
- Northward migrations to Memphis and Chicago, jug bands, electric blues, radio (King Biscuit Time, WDIA), and live performance (Chittlin' Circuit).
- Marketing blues to white audiences (Josh White, Lead Belly) and 1960s reemergence via folk music (Son House, Sonny Boy Williamson II) and British Invasion (Yardbirds).
Skills
- Identify representative styles, performers, formal patterns, and major historical developments in Delta blues.
- Analyze blues performers' personal and social lives while distinguishing fact from mythologized narratives.
- Describe and explain elements of blues and blues history verbally.
- Research musical repertories online and through direct listening.
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Explore recorded gradesRecorded 2026-10-14
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Model & dataset provenance
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