We examine the evolution of American blues from the start of the 20the century into the early 1940s. This is done in conjunction with the below video, which is part 1 of a 2-part 2013 BBC Documentary called Blues America: Woke Up This Morning.
While a common understanding is that the Blues is born strictly out of racial suffering and suppression, the blues actually started as a music of celebration. It proliferated in the Mississippi Delta and Memphis during a boom time for labor.