Because blues music is so old and dates back even before vinyl records and other recording means, there remains a significant amount of mystery regarding its early years. Born in the American South ...

Muddy Waters once sang: "the blues had a baby and they named it rock and roll." But it's more than rock… the blues makes a strong case for itself as the most influential sound in American music ...

In 1964, the Rolling Stones took a break from their first American tour to record several songs at Chess Records at 2120 S. Michigan Ave. It was where Chicago’s Black blues performers made the records ...

NPR's Scott Detrow talks to Smithsonian curator John Troutman and blues musician Dom Flemons about a new folk album, Playing for the Man at the Door, from late chronicler Mack McCormick's collection.

If they’re good, music documentaries can serve as a time machine — an immersive experience that transports the viewer back to the magic of another era, where the soundtrack envelops you, and an artist ...

Blues music is a soulful genre. It has roots deeply embedded in the Black experience. Blues has long been a powerful expression of the struggles, joys and resilience of Black life in America.

As the National Museum of African American Music opens its doors, journalists from the USA TODAY Network explore the stories, places and people who helped make music what it is today in our expansive ...

The blues took form in the Mississippi Delta and nearby river towns, where Black workers used song to mark time, trade news, and voice grief under Jim Crow rules. Travel to these places adds context ...

Guitarist Selwyn Birchwood said he felt like calling his music blues wasn’t specific enough, so he invented the description of “electric swamp funkin’ blues” instead. “I think if you just say blues it ...

America's largest musical cities have long been defined by their sound and spirit; New Orleans is the city of jazz, New York is renowned for being the birthplace of hip hop and Detroit is known as ...