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Slave Songs Published
Slave Songs of the United States, the earliest collection of African-American spirituals, is published. -
"Maple Leaf Rag" Was Published
Scott Joplin publishes "Maple Leaf Rag." Ragtime will become a key influence on the Piedmont style of blues. -
Black Music First Recorded
Victor Records issues the first known recording of Black music, "Camp Meeting Shouts." -
The Change of Blues Overnight
The blues recorded during the 1910s were strictly instrumental. That changed almost overnight with the release of Mamie Smith's "Crazy Blues" in 1920. -
First Ever Blues Song Doucumented
One of the first documented blues song to be written was Handy’s Mr. Crump, which was later entitled Memphis Blues. Handy wrote the song in 1909 and it was later published on paper in 1912. -
Memphis Blues
Memphis embraced the blues and Beale Street soon became the launching point for many aspiring blues musicians. By the 1920s, Beale Street was a showcase for "jug bands" which played a mixture of blues, ragtime, and humorous tunes, and were popular among both blacks and whites at medicine shows, juke joints, on riverboats, and at political and civic events. -
Folk Blues Debuts
Ralph Peer, the famous Artist & Repertory man for Okeh and Victor Records, makes his first field recordings in Atlanta, Georgia, marking the recording debut of both the folk blues and what will later be called country music. -
First Folk Blues Records
The first male folk blues records, featuring singers Papa Charlie Jackson and Daddy Stovepipe, are issued. -
Great Depression(impacting Blue)
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 begins on Black Thursday, signaling the beginning of the Great Depression in the United States. Amid widespread economic ruin, sales of records and phonographs plummet, crippling the recording industry. Affects on blues music were extreme. -
Electric Guitar in Blues!
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 and Chicago Blues
Muddy Waters makes his first Chicago recordings, beginning his tenure as the dominant figure in the Chicago blues and a key link between the Mississippi Delta and the urban styles. -
Freedom Summer
Freedom Summer, the civil rights campaign to register Black voters, draws young whites to the South. -
British Blues
The first U.S. tour by the Rolling Stones marks the invasion of British blues rock bands. -
White Fanbase
Muddy Waters and B.B. King perform at the Fillmore East, a concert venue in the East Village region of New York City, to a predominantly white audience. -
Robert Johnson Re-Released
Columbia's release of the complete Robert Johnson recordings on CD goes gold, selling 400,000 albums in six months.
