Blues

Blues is a genre and musical form that originated in African-American communities in the "Deep South" of the United States around the end of the 19th century. The genre is a fusion of traditional African music and European folk music, spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads. The blues form, ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll, is characterized by the call-and-response pattern and specific chord progressions, of which the twelve-bar blues is the most common. The blue notes are also an important part of the sound. Blues shuffles or walking bass reinforce the trance-like rhythm and form a repetitive effect called a groove.

Many blues elements, such as the call-and-response format and the use of blue notes, can be traced back to the music of Africa. The origins of the blues are also closely related to the religious music of the Afro-American community, the spirituals. The first appearance of the blues is often dated to after emancipation and, later, the development of juke joints. It is associated with the newly acquired freedom of the former slaves.

Chroniclers began to report about blues music at the dawn of the 20th century. The first publication of blues sheet music was in 1908. Blues has since evolved from unaccompanied vocal music and oral traditions of slaves into a wide variety of styles and subgenres. Blues subgenres include country blues, such as Delta and Piedmont, as well as urban blues styles such as Chicago and West Coast blues. World War II marked the transition from acoustic to electric blues and the progressive opening of blues music to a wider audience, especially white listeners. In the 1960s and 1970s, a hybrid form called blues rock evolved.

Links To Peel
Peel was a big fan of the blues and when working in America, he appeared on WRR in 1961 as a 'blues expert' describing and playing his blues collection. Peel's stint on the show did not last long - according to him, he was given short shrift when he asked the station if they would pay him for his work.

The first Blues LP Peel bought was in the 1950's, when he was doing his army conscription service. On his BFBS show of 10 April 1997 (BFBS) Peel described how he bought probably the first Blues LP from Muddy Waters after playing 'Long Distance Call' by the musician:


 * "Possibly the first blues LP I bought: certainly, I bought it when I was in the army me self and took it back home when I was on leave one weekend and played it to my mum. My mother, a woman of extraordinary judgement and taste, thought it was one of the best things she'd ever heard, and she was quite right."

Certainly Muddy Waters was a major influence on the blues artists who were strongly featured on Peel's programmes of the late 1960s. Among those whose cover versions of Muddy's material appear in show playlists are the Jeff Beck Group,Canned Heat, the John Dummer Blues Band, Davey Graham, Jo-Ann Kelly, The Rolling Stones and Ten Years After.

In 1975 after his Top Gear show came to an end, Peel was given his own show in September that year, where he choose a blues instrumental track from Grinderswitch called Pickin' The Blues, which was used as an intro to his show for 17 years until 1992. Peel also choose another blues track from Ike Turner called 'Prancin', which was used as an intro to his VPRO show from the Netherlands between 1984 and 1986.

Throughout his radio career, Peel would plays a blues or blues influenced tracks on his shows and many blues rock musicians would do sessions for him. Artists that were influenced by the blues such as Jimi Hendrix, White Stripes and Jawbone were popular favourites with Peel listeners, that some of their tracks entered the Festive Fifty. During the Peelenium, many tracks chosen by Peel were blues or blues influenced songs that remain a big favourite of his.