1. Race Records and Hillbilly Music

3. Mamie Smith (1883–1946) “Queen of the Blues” Vaudeville performer “Crazy Blues” (1920)

4. Race Records Ralph Peer (1892—1960) ▫Okeh Records The performances released on race records included a variety of musical styles: ▫blues ▫Jazz ▫gospel choirs ▫vocal quartets ▫string bands ▫jug-and-washboard bands Verbal performances ▫sermons ▫stories ▫comic routines

5. The Blues As a feeling As a style (genre) of singing or playing As a musical form: ▫12 bar chorus ▫a chord progression  progression of I, IV, and V chords ▫AAB text (4 + 4 + 4 measures) AAB 123456789101112 IIVIV II

6. Text of a Blues Song Rhymed couplets The text is usually AAB ▫take W. C. Handy’s “St. Louis Blues” for example: A: I hate to see the eve-nin’ sun go down (4 bars) B: It makes me think I’m on my last go-round (4 bars)

7. Form of a Blues Song Melodic form (AAB text) Metrical form (12 4-beat bars) Harmonic form (I, IV, V chords)

8. Classic Blues Alberta Hunter (1895—1984) Ethel Waters (1896—1977) Gertrude “Ma” Rainey (1886—1939) Bessie Smith (1894—1937)

9. Bessie Smith (1894–1937) “Empress of the Blues” Columbia’s race records ▫e.g., “St. Louis Blues”

10. W. C. Handy (1873–1958) “Father of the Blues” Co-founder ▫Black-owned publishing house Biggest hit: ▫“St. Louis Blues” (1914)

11. Listening: “St. Louis Blues”(1925) A ▫a. I hate to see the eve-nin’ sun go down ▫b. It makes me think I’m on my last go-round A ▫a. Feelin’ tomorrow like I feel today ▫b. I pack my (?) and make my getaway B ▫a. St. Louis woman… ▫b. Pulls my man around… ▫a. Wasn’t for powder… ▫b. The man I love… C ▫a. I got them St. Louis blues…