The Glory, Gloom, and Greatness of the Blues: A Brief Chronology (1920-1971)

Dive deep into the rich history of the blues by exploring some of the most powerful classics of the genre.

Written by Avirat Thakor

Photo courtesy of American Memory from the Library of Congress, NewSounds.org, Clemson University, NPR

The blues are a testament to the fact that making great music isn’t about faultless craftsmanship, writing complex compositions, or impeccable playing — it is about transposing yourself into the music, allowing it to embody the inner workings of the soul. And when it comes to this form of expression, no genre does this better than the blues, where its best representatives brewed deep-rooted tones and dug up their buried emotions to produce some of the most direct, intense music ever made. No wonder that a blues song (“Crazy Blues”) kickstarted the growth of the music recording industry, and blues melodies are still widely utilized today.  Whether it be singer-songwriter folk, hip-hop, electronic music, or alternative rock, the roots will always be colored blue.

To celebrate  the wonderful, timeless music they created, here is a playlist that serves as a retrospective of the history of the blues, featuring 50 great and/or important names who debuted onto the scene between 1920 and 1959. Even with the limited possibilities of chord progressions and melodies, the genre is quite diverse; from dense, jazzy ensembles of classic female blues to the brutal, acoustic intensity of delta blues to wild, indulgent fun of jump blues. To supplement the listening, we’ve put together a listening guide, listing all 50 songs with the approximate year they were released along with notable covers of each song. Many of the blues standards in this playlist compose the musical DNA of so many great, influential artists that you can feel the deep connection between these blues greats and their disciples.

Hopefully this playlist will  inspire some to go check out many of these seminal names. It may be difficult to get past the repetitive and raw nature of the blues, but the rewards are indescribably immense. Many of these artists lived extremely difficult and tragic lives, but the inner strength they displayed in  not just surviving but creating music that still can heal and mend our souls today makes this genre the lifeblood of almost all popular Western music. It is worth every single ounce of effort to learn to empathize with these past greats, and I hope this playlist can serve as a helpful guide on such a spiritually uplifting journey.