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slaves start singing field songs while working
slaves would sing songs while working out in the fields -
Slave songs published
slave songs of the united states is published -
Black music first recorded
Victor Records issues the first known recording of black music -
Bluesman Discovered
The musician W.C. Handy sees a bluesman playing guitar with a knife at a train station in Mississippi. -
Blues songs first recorded
the musician W.C handy's Memphis Blues are published as sheet music. -
Mamie Smith
Mamie Smith records for Okeh Records. Her "Crazy Blues" becomes the first blues hit, beginning the business of "race" recording. -
Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey
Mamie Smith records for Okeh Records. Her "Crazy Blues" becomes the first blues hit, beginning the business of "race" recording. -
Blind lemon jefferson
Blind Lemon Jefferson is first recorded. He will become the dominant blues figure of the late 1920s and the first star of the folk blues. -
Charley Patton
The early Delta bluesman Charley Patton is first recorded. -
robert johnson
Legendary Delta bluesman Robert Johnson begins his short recording career. -
electric guitar
Eddie Durham records the first music featuring the electric guitar. The modern instrument, first developed by musician George Beauchamp and engineer Adolph Rickenbacher in the early 1930s, will help to transform the sound of the blues. -
muddy waters recorded
Alan Lomax records McKinley Morganfield, better known as Muddy Waters, for the Library of Congress at Stovall's Farm in Mississippi. -
t-bone walker goes electric
Bluesman T-Bone Walker plays electric guitar on the recording of his standard "Call it Stormy Monday." -
the country blues
Samuel Charters publishes The Country Blues, fueling the blues element of the folk music revival.
