by Frank Matheis
There are varied definitions nowadays as to what exactly that term “Country Blues” means. As the name implies, it was the folk music played in the rural South by African-Americans. During the 1920s and 30s, black folks in the agrarian regions did not have amplified instruments and played acoustic music. Mostly they played locally in their own community for entertainment among friends and neighbors. Professional itinerant musicians traveled within limited regional geographies. This music has been referred to as folk-blues, Country blues, acoustic blues, primitive blues, etc. One of the common terms is Pre-War blues, meaning music that was recorded before WWII. It is called “Country blues” because, well, it was played in the country by country folks. Today, it is played by people everywhere and it has become an international form of the blues, and it is Country Blues in so far as it takes as it’s root from the original music of the pre-War period.
There were multiple regional styles to The Country Blues in Texas, Georgia, the Eastern Seaboard (Piedmont), The Mississippi Delta, North Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama all with distinctly different, yet related styles. All borrowed heavily from earlier times, dating back to the 19th Century, and popular music of the time: spirituals, slave era work songs, ragtime, Songster, Appalachian, hillbilly, early jazz and even Hawaiian music. Various rhythmic styles, tunings, fingerpicking and slide styles were favored in different regions and even the syncopation and harmony singing styles differed from region to region. Country Blues incorporated string bands, jug bands, slide players, and intricate fingerpickers. In some areas like North Mississippi they incorporated fife and drum. In other regions, such as the Mississippi Delta, the slide was very popular. In the East, the music was heavily infused with ragtime and predominately fingerpicking. In some regions they featured banjo and accordions, fiddles and harmonicas, with some instruments more or less in favor.
As in many musical traditions, not everybody today agrees on matters of tradition, preservation and purity. The debate today centers around what constitutes “real” country blues. Purists prefer an exact adherence to the old songs by the old masters. Others have taken the old country blues as the root and developed an evolving music that keeps true to the tradition in part, but infused their own styles into the sound. Most people accept both as long as it sounds good.
Some (and certainly only some, albeit influential) hardcore purist folks believe they, and only they, know what is allowed and what is not allowed. They have locked this music into a time capsule. In an effort to preserve musical traditions and to celebrate the legacy of the original performers, they try to protect blues purity by recreating the original songs as truly and accurately close to the initial performances and recordings as possible. In essence, they see the Country Blues as a sort of museum where the music is on the shelves, unchanged and protected forever and they are the keepers of the flame. They reject new acoustic blues that is not exactly played as it was back in the 1930s, even if it has its roots in the original country blues; or, if it has changed and incorporated new elements into the music. Unless the songs are exactly as played on the old 78 rpm records, they don’t approve – and at worst they become dismissive, condemning and rejectionist. One critic, himself a very good country blues player, stated that it was “…unfortunate that thecountryblues.com had an apparent confusion between acoustic blues and Country blues” and he referred to some musicians on this site as “noodlers” – which is apparently not intended as a compliment. In his rigid interpretation, his fellow musicians had better not deviate from the script or they get tossed in the noodler pile!
We love the old music, and cherish those who keep that music alive today. But, we take a much more liberal view because the hardcore purists essentially reject the development by today’s musicians to forge their own style. We believe that it is great to play the old songs note for note, but that the music has continually evolved over the last 80 years, and indeed, it did not end at any particular moment in World War II. Any musical form, if it is to survive, transmutates over time. Time does not stand still. The best way to be preservationist is to keep the music meaningful and vibrant, to celebrate the old and the new. The “contemporary” musicians playing Country Blues, including all those listed on this site, preserve the traditions of the original music, which has remained acoustic but has evolved in form– still, it remains to be folk-blues, Country-blues and acoustic blues, whatever term you want to call it.
Basically, we say “It is!” We need the traditional and pure country blues and we need the modern and new versions. That’s what the Country Blues needs to stay relevant and exciting in the 21St Century.
© 2012 thecountryblues.com