MUSIC 2II3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Marion Williams, Killin, Crazy Blues
Document Summary
Country blues comes out of the mississippi delta use acoustic instruments/guitar/banjo/harmonica and very often it"s just played by one person, a solo performance. An acoustic guitar and singing, or singing and harmonica. The formal designs and the way the song goes can be pretty irregular, regularity comes from playing with a group of people, you need the regularity to keep together as a group. The reason that this is so important is that because it sets up a dialogue in music and the dialogue creates a kind of community, it opens space for the creation of community. In blues, this idea of conversation and community is really a central feature of this style. Robert johnson is a legendary country blues performer, he made many songs in the 1930s, died very young, incredibly gifted. Urban blues formal designs that are more codified, more regular. Call and response also hugely important in urban blues music.
