Some people call the Mississippi Delta "the land where the blues began"! After the Civil War, many Black Americans began to move to the Delta region, where there were more job opportunities, higher wages, and chances to buy land. However, the freedoms that initially drew many to the Mississippi Delta eroded as Reconstruction (1865–1877) ended. Jim Crow laws were instituted, and racial violence became more common in a sharecropping system designed to replace the system of slavery. It was in this environment that the blues evolved. It was popularized at country barbecues, juke joints, and family gatherings by Black cotton farmers, sharecroppers, and other laborers who fused their regional styles and instruments. In this lesson, you will learn all about the instruments and playing styles that shaped early "country" blues forms (specifically the Delta and Piedmont styles).

Lesson Paths & Learning Objectives

1. The Deep South: Mississippi Delta Blues

   • Describe the environment within which the "country blues" developed.
   • Identify musical and stylistic characteristics of the distinct form of country blues known as the "Delta Blues".
   • Identify several important country blues musicians.
   • 30+ minutes

2. The Tub, Harmonica, and Diddley Bow

   • Identify and describe the sounds and functions of instruments that were important in the development of early country blues styles.
   • Explain why these instruments were used by blues musicians in rural areas in the early 1900s.
   • 25+ minutes

3. Pickin' and Slidin'

   • Explain defining characteristics of the "Piedmont Blues" style and identify where it originated.
   • Aurally identify and describe two distinct playing styles associated with the Delta and Piedmont Blues (two types of country blues traditions).
   • 25+ minutes