Originally Posted by: CSchlegelGood essay! Kudos. :)

I've read that the lyrics are from "slave songs" or bastardized hymns. No idea how accurate that is.

I do know the music has it's direct roots in being a simplification of ragtime, two-steps and cakewalks. Like the music of American genius Scott Joplin!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Joplin

Also, note, that another couple of my faves, Gershwin & Ellington had already created and fully incorporated "bluesy" elements into their playing and tunes by the time of Robert Johnson's 1936 recordings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gershwin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Ellington

Thank you.

You're absolutely right Mr. Schlegel - from what I've read, generally, the elements of the 'blues' was showing up in minstrels, reels, hymns and early New Orleans jazz at the end of the 19th century, a few years before W.C. Handy heard that nameless young man playing slide guitar with a knife in Tutweiller Station in Memphis.

One of the most interesting things I've found though is that so many early blues players were pigeon-holed as nothing but blues players. Not true. They were musicians. The blues was very popular so that's what they played. Muddy Waters was a HUGE Gene Autry fan and also really, really liked the Big Band sound. Apparently, when Lomax wanted to record him, Muddy wanted to play a couple of pop ballads and some cowboy and hill-billy songs. Lomax, of course, veto'd that and pressed him for 'straight-up' blues.

In the end, the market created the blues. The form was there for a long time but it was the market itself that helped create and fed the music, turning it into the form it is today and what it will sound like tomorrow. Jazz, rock...etc share a similar lineage, I think.