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The Memphis blues is a style of blues
Blues

Blues is a music genre based on the use of the blues chord progressions and the blue notes. Though several blues musical form s exist, the 12-bar blues chord progressions are the most frequently encountered....
 music that was created in the 1920s and 1930s by Memphis-area musicians like Frank Stokes
Frank Stokes

Frank Stokes was a blues musician, songster, and blackface minstrel who is considered by many musicologists to be the father of the Memphis blues guitar style....
, Sleepy John Estes
Sleepy John Estes

John Adam Estes , best known as Sleepy John Estes or Sleepy John, was a United States blues guitarist, songwriter and vocalist, born in Ripley, Tennessee, Lauderdale County, Tennessee, Tennessee....
, Furry Lewis
Furry Lewis

Furry Lewis was a country blues guitarist and songwriter from Memphis, Tennessee, Tennessee. Lewis was one of the first of the old-time blues musicians of the 1920s to be brought out of retirement, and given a new lease of recording life, by the folk blues revival of the 1960s....
 and Memphis Minnie
Memphis Minnie

Memphis Minnie McCoy-Lawler was an United States Blues guitarist, vocalist, and composer....
. The style was popular in vaudeville
Vaudeville

Vaudeville was a genre of a variety show prevalent on the theatre in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. It developed from many sources, including the concert saloon, minstrel show, freak shows, dime museums, and literary burlesque....
 and medicine show
Medicine show

Medicine shows were traveling horse and wagon teams which peddled miracle medications and other products between various entertainment acts. Their precise origins unknown, medicine shows were most common in the United States in the 19th century ....
s, and was associated with Memphis' main entertainment area, Beale Street
Beale Street

Beale Street is a street in downtown Memphis, Tennessee, which runs from the Mississippi River to East Street, a distance of approximately . It is a significant location in history and the history of the blues....
. The history of the era is detailed in the early chapters of a 2000 book by James L. Dickerson entitled Goin' Back to Memphis ISBN 0815410492.

In addition to guitar-based blues, jug bands, such as Gus Cannon
Gus Cannon

Gus Cannon was an United States blues musician who helped to popularize jug bands in the 1920s and 1930s....
's Jug Stompers and the Memphis Jug Band
Memphis Jug Band

The Memphis Jug Band was an United States band in the late 1920s and early to mid 1930s. The band featured harmonicas, violins, mandolins, banjos, and guitars, backed by washboards, kazoo, and Jug blown to supply the bass; they played in a variety of musical styles....
, were extremely popular practitioners of Memphis blues.






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The Memphis blues is a style of blues
Blues

Blues is a music genre based on the use of the blues chord progressions and the blue notes. Though several blues musical form s exist, the 12-bar blues chord progressions are the most frequently encountered....
 music that was created in the 1920s and 1930s by Memphis-area musicians like Frank Stokes
Frank Stokes

Frank Stokes was a blues musician, songster, and blackface minstrel who is considered by many musicologists to be the father of the Memphis blues guitar style....
, Sleepy John Estes
Sleepy John Estes

John Adam Estes , best known as Sleepy John Estes or Sleepy John, was a United States blues guitarist, songwriter and vocalist, born in Ripley, Tennessee, Lauderdale County, Tennessee, Tennessee....
, Furry Lewis
Furry Lewis

Furry Lewis was a country blues guitarist and songwriter from Memphis, Tennessee, Tennessee. Lewis was one of the first of the old-time blues musicians of the 1920s to be brought out of retirement, and given a new lease of recording life, by the folk blues revival of the 1960s....
 and Memphis Minnie
Memphis Minnie

Memphis Minnie McCoy-Lawler was an United States Blues guitarist, vocalist, and composer....
. The style was popular in vaudeville
Vaudeville

Vaudeville was a genre of a variety show prevalent on the theatre in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. It developed from many sources, including the concert saloon, minstrel show, freak shows, dime museums, and literary burlesque....
 and medicine show
Medicine show

Medicine shows were traveling horse and wagon teams which peddled miracle medications and other products between various entertainment acts. Their precise origins unknown, medicine shows were most common in the United States in the 19th century ....
s, and was associated with Memphis' main entertainment area, Beale Street
Beale Street

Beale Street is a street in downtown Memphis, Tennessee, which runs from the Mississippi River to East Street, a distance of approximately . It is a significant location in history and the history of the blues....
. The history of the era is detailed in the early chapters of a 2000 book by James L. Dickerson entitled Goin' Back to Memphis ISBN 0815410492.

In addition to guitar-based blues, jug bands, such as Gus Cannon
Gus Cannon

Gus Cannon was an United States blues musician who helped to popularize jug bands in the 1920s and 1930s....
's Jug Stompers and the Memphis Jug Band
Memphis Jug Band

The Memphis Jug Band was an United States band in the late 1920s and early to mid 1930s. The band featured harmonicas, violins, mandolins, banjos, and guitars, backed by washboards, kazoo, and Jug blown to supply the bass; they played in a variety of musical styles....
, were extremely popular practitioners of Memphis blues. The jug band style empasized the danceable, syncopated rhythms of early jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
 and a range of other archaic folk styles. It was played on simple, sometimes homemade, instruments such as harmonica
Harmonica

The harmonica is a free reed aerophone wind instrument which is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes....
s, violin
Violin

The violin is a Bow string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello....
s, mandolin
Mandolin

A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It is descended from the Mandora, a soprano member of the lute family. It has a body with a teardrop-shaped soundboard, or one which is essentially oval in shape, with a soundhole, or soundholes, of varying shapes which are open and are not decorated with an intricately carved grille lik...
s, banjo
Banjo

The banjo is a stringed instrument developed by Slavery in the United States Africans in the United States, adapted from several African instruments....
s, and guitars, backed by washboards, kazoo
Kazoo

The kazoo is a device fitted that adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when one vocalizes into it. The kazoo is a type of mirliton - a device which modifies the sound of a person's voice by way of a vibrating membrane....
, guimbarde
Jew's harp

The Jew's harp, jaw harp, mouth harp, Ozark harp, marranzano pancake, or Omaha Flapjack is thought to be one of the oldest musical instruments in the world ; a musician apparently playing it can be seen in a Chinese drawing from the 3rd century BC ....
 and jugs blown to supply the bass.

After World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
, electric instruments became popular among Memphis blues musicians. As African-Americans left the Mississippi Delta and other impoverished areas of the south for urban areas, many musicians gravitated to Memphis' blues scene, changing the classic Memphis blues sound. Musicians such as Howlin' Wolf
Howlin' Wolf

Chester Arthur Burnett , better known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player.With a booming voice and looming physical presence, Burnett is commonly ranked among the leading performers in electric blues; musician and critic Cub Koda declared, "no one could match [Howlin' Wolf] for the singular...
, Willie Nix
Willie Nix

Willie Nix was an American blues singer and drummer, active in Memphis, Tennessee, Tennessee in the 1940s and 1950s.Born in Memphis, as a child he learnt to tap dance, and later became a part of the blues scene that grew up around Beale Street ....
, Ike Turner
Ike Turner

Ike Wister Turner was an United States musician, bandleader, talent scout, and record producer. His first recording, "Rocket 88" by "Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats," in 1951, is considered by some to be the "First rock and roll record" ever....
, and B.B.King performed on Beale Street and in West Memphis, and recorded some of the classic electric blues, rhythm and blues and rock & roll records for labels such as Sun Records
Sun Records

Sun Records is a record label founded in Memphis, Tennessee, Tennessee, starting operations on March 27 1952. Founded by Sam Phillips, Sun Records was known for giving notable musicians such as Elvis Presley , Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash their first recording contracts and helping to launch their careers....
. These musicians had a strong influence on later musicians in these styles, notably the early rock & rollers and rockabillies
Rockabilly

Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, and emerged in the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a Portmanteau word of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development....
, many of whom also recorded for Sun Records. A more contemporary band, the North Mississippi Allstars
North Mississippi Allstars

North Mississippi Allstars is a blues-Rock music/jamband from Hernando, Mississippi, founded in 1996. The band is composed of brothers Luther Dickinson and Cody Dickinson , and Chris Chew ....
, has embraced the blues tradition of Memphis and reflects many of the classic blues rhythms in their songs.

"Memphis Blues" is also the title of a song
Song

A song is a musical musical composition which contains vocal parts that are performed, 'sung,' and feature words , commonly accompanied by musical instruments ....
 published by W.C. Handy in 1912 . It is not the first blues published, but was an important early blues-influenced hit. Handy based it on his earlier political campaign song, "Mr. Crump Don't Like It."

The is the blues society for the Memphis region. Their mission is the preservation and education of the history and culture of Memphis Blues. They also serve as a networking facility for Memphis area blues musicians.

Memphis blues musicians


  • W. C. Handy
    W. C. Handy

    William Christopher Handy was a blues composer and musician, often known as the "Father of the Blues".Handy remains among the most influential of American songwriters....
  • Frank Stokes
    Frank Stokes

    Frank Stokes was a blues musician, songster, and blackface minstrel who is considered by many musicologists to be the father of the Memphis blues guitar style....
  • Junior Wells
    Junior Wells

    Junior Wells , born Amos Blakemore, was a Blues music vocalist and harmonica player based in Chicago who was famous for playing with Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Bonnie Raitt, The Rolling Stones and Van Morrison among others....
  • Furry Lewis
    Furry Lewis

    Furry Lewis was a country blues guitarist and songwriter from Memphis, Tennessee, Tennessee. Lewis was one of the first of the old-time blues musicians of the 1920s to be brought out of retirement, and given a new lease of recording life, by the folk blues revival of the 1960s....
  • Willie Nix
    Willie Nix

    Willie Nix was an American blues singer and drummer, active in Memphis, Tennessee, Tennessee in the 1940s and 1950s.Born in Memphis, as a child he learnt to tap dance, and later became a part of the blues scene that grew up around Beale Street ....
  • Sleepy John Estes
    Sleepy John Estes

    John Adam Estes , best known as Sleepy John Estes or Sleepy John, was a United States blues guitarist, songwriter and vocalist, born in Ripley, Tennessee, Lauderdale County, Tennessee, Tennessee....
  • Ida Cox
    Ida Cox

    Ida Cox was an African American singer and vaudeville performer, best known for her blues performances and sound recording and reproduction.Cox was born in February, 1896 as Ida Prather in Toccoa, Georgia, Habersham County, Georgia , the daughter of Lamax and Susie Prather, and grew up in Cedartown, Georgia, singing in the local Afr...
  • Junior Parker
    Junior Parker

    Junior Parker, also known as Little Junior Parker or "Mr Blues" was a successful and influential Memphis blues singer and musician....
  • Memphis Minnie
    Memphis Minnie

    Memphis Minnie McCoy-Lawler was an United States Blues guitarist, vocalist, and composer....
  • Howlin' Wolf
    Howlin' Wolf

    Chester Arthur Burnett , better known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player.With a booming voice and looming physical presence, Burnett is commonly ranked among the leading performers in electric blues; musician and critic Cub Koda declared, "no one could match [Howlin' Wolf] for the singular...
  • Rosco Gordon
    Rosco Gordon

    Rosco Gordon was an African American blues singer and songwriter. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Tennessee on Floridastreet. Gordon was one of the "Beale Street", a moniker given to a group of musicians who helped develop the style known as Memphis Blues....
  • Bobby Sowell
    Bobby Sowell

    Bobby Sowell is an United States musician, pianist and composer. He spent much of his early years playing rockabilly piano in the late 1950s, playing electric organ in rock and roll band in the 1960s and playing piano in numerous country music bands in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s....
  • Robert Wilkins
    Robert Wilkins

    Robert Timothy Wilkins was a seminal blues guitarist and vocal music, of African American and Cherokee descent....
  • Doctor Ross
    Doctor Ross

    Doctor Ross , aka Doctor Ross, the harmonica boss, was an United States blues, guitarist, harmonica and drummer ? a one-man band ? who was born Charles Isaiah Ross, in Tunica, Mississippi, Mississippi....
  • Joe Hill Louis
    Joe Hill Louis

    Joe Hill Louis , born Lester Hill, was an United States singer, guitar, harmonica player and one-man band. He is significant, along with fellow Memphis, Tennessee bluesman Doctor Ross as one of only a small number of one-man blues bands to have recorded commercially in the 1950s, and as a session musician for Sun Records....