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Blues Legends In the History of the Genre
Breakout
With the proliferation of recording studios and the advent of radio in the 1920s, the blues began to find audiences to a limited degree outside the deep south. But the blues never did break big time, not the way jazz did.
The ASCAP musicians’ strike (American Society of Composers, Authors and publishers) helped the cause of the blues. The strike led to the formation of BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated) in1939. New labels and BMI publishers signed many African American blues musicians to make recordings to meet the demand for fresh music for radio broadcast.
Crest
In the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s, the folk music revival rekindled interest in authentic African American folk music. Many blues musicians who had been playing in obscurity for decades suddenly found themselves performing and recording for large and appreciative audiences.
Mainstream Genre
As with other genres, interest in the blues waxes and wanes. Like jazz, the blues will be around for generations to come.
Some important blues songwriters and performers include Blind Lemon Jefferson, Pine Top Smith, Leadbelly, Charley Patton, Leroy Carr, Bessie Smith, W. C. Handy, Robert Johnson, Ma Rainey, Blind Willie McTell, Son House, Howlin’ Wolf, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Etta James, and B. B. King.