Wednesday, January 26 2005: Blues
The
Lyrics board got me thinking last night about my musical tastes.
Stepping back as an outside observer I wouldn't peg myself as someone who'd
like the blues (or bluegrass, for that matter). But as soon as I brushed
up against the blues (in the person of Robert Johnson) I was instantly
hooked.
The old-timey acoustic blues from the era when blues, folk and bluegrass were first being recorded (and consequently becoming a commercial endeavor, but that's another flog entry) situates itself in a particular context and takes on all the flavor of its concreteness. The music conjures up ghosts. At one turn there's the dark mysticism of Deep South voodoo; at another turn there's the technology of 1920s modernity, and at its heart are rhythms based on West African beats. But the blues don't just look to the past, they morphogenetically presage the future of American music, indelibly influencing the course of the disparate strands that eventually broke out into Country and Western, R&B, and Rock and Roll.
The old-timey acoustic blues from the era when blues, folk and bluegrass were first being recorded (and consequently becoming a commercial endeavor, but that's another flog entry) situates itself in a particular context and takes on all the flavor of its concreteness. The music conjures up ghosts. At one turn there's the dark mysticism of Deep South voodoo; at another turn there's the technology of 1920s modernity, and at its heart are rhythms based on West African beats. But the blues don't just look to the past, they morphogenetically presage the future of American music, indelibly influencing the course of the disparate strands that eventually broke out into Country and Western, R&B, and Rock and Roll.
