Urban Blues

Origins

Urban Blues was a development growing out of traditional rural blues or folk blues. Scholars disagree as to the exact origin or source of the music. Some scholars say the source of the Blues was from the Mississippi “Delta”, some have said Texas, others say New Orleans and still others say from states like Georgia, Florida or Alabama. Suffice it to say, the blues seems to have simultaneously manifested itself throughout the aforementioned southern states of America. This stands to reason since the music was played by travelers and vagabonds in its early stages.

In any event the music was brought to cities in the north of the United States during what was known as the great migrations (at least two waves). This consisted of mostly African Americans and other people of color like Hispanics, Creoles (people of mixed races) and American Indians who moved from the rural south to the urban north. By the 1970s, 80% of all black people living in America resided in these cities and urban areas.

The first wave of the great migration started in the 1910s, continuing up to about the early 1930s, which saw some 1.6 million African Americans move from Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Florida and Georgia, north to northern industrial cities like New York, Chicago, Memphis, Detroit, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and Indianapolis and other smaller northern cities. The people were in search of jobs and social/economic opportunities and were trying to escape the Jim Crow south, poverty, racism and bigotry.

Early Urban Blues Hits

Scholars often disagree as to what were the first Urban Blues hits. However, author Francis Davis in his book “The History of the Blues” suggests that Tampa Red, although not fully Urban Blues was an artist who was “midway’ between Folk Blues and Urban Blues with his 1928 hit “It’s Tight Like That”. The song was written and also co-performed by Georgia Tom Dorsey (no relation to the Dorsey Brothers in Jazz), who was famous for writing the songs “Peace in the Valley and “Precious Lord, Take My Hand.

Also in 1928, Nashville bluesmen Leroy Carr, along with guitarist Francis “Scrapper” Blackwell released “How Long, How Long Blues”, considered by many to be the first authentic Urban Blues song. The song was recorded in Indianapolis and became a hit in Chicago.

Around this time, there was a wide range of authentic, original music being recorded by many of the record labels in the north and to a limited extent in the South. There was Klezmer music, cantors, Irish (jigs) music, Italian operas, hillbilly music, many factions of country music, Ozark folk music, vaudeville humorous comedy bits and music, spirituals (pre-cursor to Gospel) as well as the pop music of the day, which was Broadway show tunes, Ragtime and Jazz.

The blues was also one of the many genres being recorded and sold to a specific crowd, depending on where you lived and the accessibility of the recorded music. Some scholars claim that, never again in America would there be such a wide range of music recorded and sold as there were in the first few decades of the 20th century. The Great Depression changed all of this and brought about a stifling effect to the music industry and distribution.

The repeal of Prohibition in 1933 saved many record companies from Chapter 11 and bankruptcy. Also the invention of the “Jukebox” helped revive the recorded music industry by supplying accessible music to bars, clubs, malt shops, candy stores, diners, variety stores, markets and almost any place where people commercially congregated. By 1939 there were over a quarter of a million jukeboxes being maintained and accessed all throughout America.