Blues grew from Delta labor life, then spread along river and rail routes into bigger stages and wider audiences. The post Visiting the Birthplace of the Blues and the American Music That Followed ...

Because blues music is so old and dates back even before vinyl records and other recording means, there remains a significant amount of mystery regarding its early years. Born in the American South ...

Atlanta is a big enough town that finding a list of a dozen bars offering life-sized jenga and another dozen where bocce ball is close to club sport is easy to do. Yet, if you wanted to make a list of ...

Muddy Waters once sang: "the blues had a baby and they named it rock and roll." But it's more than rock… the blues makes a strong case for itself as the most influential sound in American music ...

New to the blues? Here’s what you need to know to get you started. Blues music is a genre that grew out of the American dream. Its roots were firmly planted in the New World before it migrated to ...

Blues music is a soulful genre. It has roots deeply embedded in the Black experience. Blues has long been a powerful expression of the struggles, joys and resilience of Black life in America.

In 1964, the Rolling Stones took a break from their first American tour to record several songs at Chess Records at 2120 S. Michigan Ave. It was where Chicago’s Black blues performers made the records ...

NPR's Scott Detrow talks to Smithsonian curator John Troutman and blues musician Dom Flemons about a new folk album, Playing for the Man at the Door, from late chronicler Mack McCormick's collection.

As the National Museum of African American Music opens its doors, journalists from the USA TODAY Network explore the stories, places and people who helped make music what it is today in our expansive ...

For Buddy Guy — a stalwart and staunch defender of the blues — there’s nothing more important than keeping his chosen genre at the forefront of conversation. It comes naturally: Guy is one of ...

Most people have never heard of Gnawa. Originally you weren't supposed to. For centuries, the music was only played in secret ceremonies by enslaved Black Africans brought to Morocco. Gnawa—an ...