Study Guide Muddy Waters and Electrification of Delta Blues

From the lecture and the book Deep Blues

– be familiar with the general trajectory of Muddy Waters’ career. Who did he learn from in Mississippi, what was his role in Chicago? How can he be seen as a father or grandfather figure of rock’n’roll?

– Be prepared to be able to discuss how Chicago differed from Mississippi (or the Deep South more generally) as a performance environment for artists such as Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Howlin’ Wolf.

– what was King Biscuit Time, and what was its importance for blues in the Delta? In a similar vein, what was the importance of Memphis’ WDIA to blues culture? [This latter part also was touched upon in the BB King lecture]

Lesson 8: Urban blues

– be familiar with the general differences between “downhome blues” styles such as those found in the Delta, and “urban blues” styles as exemplified by the careers of T-Bone Walker, B.B. King, and others addressed in the lecture and in the essay by Middleton (PDF file in folder)

– read through the story of B.B. King that I wrote and the interview with him that is linked. How do you think B.B.’s personal qualities contributed to his success as an artist?

– What is it that BB King draws from urban blues in creating his style, according to the article by Richard Middleton?

Lesson 9: Politics and Religion

– What were the social circumstances under which the music of Josh White and Leadbelly became more explicitly political? [Read Elijah Wald’s article on Josh White]

– What are some ways that we can see blues as political even when they don’t appear on the surface to be political?

– Be familiar with Cone’s argument [in the lecture and in the separate reading] about blues being “secular spirituals”; what “religious” qualities does he see blues as having? How can blues address personal problems in a way that religion does not, or does not typically do?

Lesson 10: Blues’ influence on other musics

– Be familiar with some of the examples of how Elvis mixed blues into his music (lecture)
– In the Wald book: what are the main ways that blues is connected to country music and jazz?

Lesson 11: The Blues Revival

these mostly refer to the O’Neal article (available as PDF file — it’s available both as one file and in two parts, as it’s pretty big)

– what does it refer to when we say artists were “rediscovered”?

– what role did the British play in introducing white Americans to the blues?

– what were some of the debates about “authenticity” during the revival?

Lesson 12: Blues Today

Obviously you might not have access to some of the PDF files and articles, but see what you can find and answer accordingly.
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