Page 56 - Blues Festival Guide Magazine 2025 Digital Edition

Revolution

to evolution

the JouRney of the Blues fRom the Delta to GReat BRitain anD Back aGain

By Paul Aaronson The blues’ next major move was across the pond to
Willie Dixon coined the often-heard phrase, “The blues is the Europe, namely Great Britain, where thousands of fans
roots, and the other musics is the fruits... it’s better keeping the awaited its arrival… only they didn’t realize it yet. Men such
roots alive, because it means better fruits from now on.” Those as Chris Barber (first to bring Muddy over), Alexis Korner and
roots were planted in the fields of the Delta, primarily Mississippi, Giorgio Gomelsky were among the first Brits to discover the
in the 1920s and ‘30s, and its subsequent fruits bloomed through emotional impact the blues could have, and they brought over
an American northern migration all the way to Great Britain into many Delta bluesmen like Sonny Boy Williamson II and Big
the 1960s. Call it a blues revolution to a blues-rock evolution – Bill Broonzy to perform in the U.K. But the real impact was
the foundation of modern music, even today. felt by younger fans and musicians, who discovered the blues
But what is the connection between the USA to Great through state-side records. The Delta influence can be seen in
Britain that was so deep it jump-started this musical evolution? British band names paying homage to their American blues
U.K. author and blues historian Harry Shapiro put it best: “The
blues is emotional, not geographical,” meaning it’s not where
you’re from, but rather what you feel. Of course, growing
up poor, Black and oppressed in the shadow of slavery in
the Mississippi Delta (the Delta Triangle included Mississippi,
Arkansas and Tennessee), doing back-breaking work like
picking cotton, can precipitate a certain amount of suffering
that needs an outlet for self-expression. The church was
there with its gospel hymns to provide some solace for those
laboring in the fields. Those folks included the likes of McKinley
Morganfield (Muddy Waters), Chester Burnett (Howlin’ Wolf),
John Lee Hooker, Aleck "Rice" Miller (Sonny Boy Williamson
ll), Jimmy Reed, Lee Conley Bradley (Big Bill Broonzy), Marion
Walter Jacobs (Little Walter), Peter Chatman (Memphis Slim),
Otis Rush, Jimmy Rogers, Otis Spann, George (Buddy) Guy,
Amos (Junior) Wells, Riley B. King (B.B. King), Willie Dixon and
countless other lesser-known but equally talented people. They
looked to escape those fields and became part of the Great
Migration north, first to Memphis, then to St. Louis, Detroit and
Chicago – which became the “blues mecca” in America.
Thus, “Chicago Blues” came to be, and this influx of
Southern talent was staggering, to say the least. But the
Windy City in the late-1940s/early-1950s was not for the
faint-hearted. It wasn’t just those poor Black field-hands from
the South who arrived, but also immigrants from Eastern
Europe who settled there as well – like the Czyz (Chess)
brothers, Leonard and Phil, from Poland, who eventually
started Chess Records in 1950 and became the pre-eminent
American blues label. Their location on Chicago’s South
Side at 2120 South Michigan Avenue later became the title
of a Rolling Stones song recorded in 1964 during their first Eric Clapton in Rotterdam, 1978. Photo by Chris Hakkens, CC BY-SA 2.0
U.S. tour. <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

54 Blues Festival Guide 2025