Blues Lessons

Begin by reading "What is the Blues?" and the life of Muddy Waters at Muddy Waters: Can't Be Satisfied by Robert Gordon. Read Poetry: Blues Style. Look at "Understanding the 12 Bar Blues." - write your own blues lyric following the example by Elmore James. Then read Chicago and "The Great Migration" and How the Blues Affected Race Relations in the United States.

Blues Series Discography

Blues lyrics by Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters. Coversproject.com lists covers of songs by Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters. Cleveland's Robert Lockwood, Jr. sings Wednesdays at Fat Fish Blue. Here's a link to Lockwood's biography at the River of Song. More Robert Johnson lyrics here.

The NYTimes piece Blues Musicians Get Help Overcoming Hard Times is about the Music Maker Music Relief Foundation - Tim and Denise Duffy's non-profit project to promote and preserve old blues musicians. Listen to an inteview with Duffy on NPR.

When Moby sampled Vera Hall for "Natural Blues" he used field recordings from the The John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip archived at the Library of Congress American Collection. Vera's songs are here. Read more about Alan Lomax here and here.

More sources:
Alphabetical list of Blues Artists, The Year of the Blues, Sweet Home Chicago, The Official Muddy Waters Web Site and explore Blues Road Trip, Blues in the Classroom, The Blues Viewing Guide, The Blues Radio Series, and sample Blues riffs at Fender's Players Club.

How to Write the Blues

How to Write and Sing the Blues

Blues in the Classroom

What Jazz Owes the Blues

Theme for English B

Langston Hughes - "The Weary Blues"

Blues Questions