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Slaves arrive in the Americas
The first African slaves are brough to the American Colony of Virginia. -
Oral SLave Music
Slaves were unable to spek with one another, so they began to speak in spiritual hymns. God has proclaimed that thou shall speak in spiritual song and hymnals. They created music to communicate with one another so they would not be beaten. -
"SLave Songs" Published
Slave Songs of the United States, the earliest collection of African-American spirituals, is published. -
Rise of Jim Crow
Southern states move to the "Jim Crow" system of legal segregation, passing laws to circumscribe many aspects of African-American life and producing, in effect, a quasi-slave society reinforced by the economics of the sharecropping system. Racial violence and lynchings increase. -
"Maple Leaf Rag" Published
Scott Joplin publishes "Maple Leaf Rag." Ragtime will become a key influence on the Piedmont style of blues. -
Bluesman Discovered
The musician W.C. Handy sees a bluesman playing guitar with a knife at a train station in Mississippi. -
First Blues Song Recorded
The first blues songs, including 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. -
Charley Patton- Folk Blues
Charley Patton (1887-1934) is the closest recorded link to the source of the country folk blues in the Mississippi Delta. Well before his debut on record in 1929, Patton had established himself as a touring performer and was renowned for his ability as a flashy guitarist and consummate entertainer, anchoring all of his songs with a steady beat and his raucous, gravelly voice. -
Blind Lemon Jefferson Debut
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. -
John Hammond
John Hammond (1910-1987) was arguably one of the most important figures in American popular music in the twentieth century and was certainly among the most important early white fans of the blues. Promoted Robert Johnson postumously:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd60nI4sa9A -
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. -
"Rhythym and Blues" is born
Jerry Wexler, an editor at Billboard magazine, substitutes the term "rhythm and blues" for the older "race" records. -
Elvis Debuts
Elvis Presley makes his recording debut on Sun Records with a version of Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup's "That's All Right." -
WHite Fan Base
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.
