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 Some initial clarifications. First of all, in my opinion, the most powerful blues music is usually rather grim. Raw and tough. Yet, it also has a strange optimism hidden beneath its rough delivery.  A knowing sense of survival. We will speak the truth. Share our observations. Both in words and music. And learn. ________________________________________________________ The first blues was created in extreme secrecy. Lives were at risk. For daring to play this music. Which means we can only surmise how blues started. How and why? Here's a few possible answers. Blues music must have been initially formed during the "Reconstruction Era." Which occurred at the end of the Civil War. From 1865 to 1877. Very little is understood about this era, due to the collapse of the American South's governance. Which included banning all of the Southern newspapers. Can we infer from what we don't know? First of all, as far as I know, there's no evidence of blues being played publicly before the Reconstruction. But right away, this is where blues theories can get highly confusing. And that's because we only know blues emerged rather fully formed, many years after the Reconstruction. So it must have been developed by the newly "freed" slaves who now were "sharecroppers." Which meant they could buy a mail order acoustic guitar. However, they must have wisely continued to hide their music from the plantation owners. There are rumors. But no proof. And no recordings. Because recording had not been invented (yet). But don't listen to me. Read Robert Palmer's Deep Blues book. He's the music writer, not the rock musician. Fortunately, Palmer was the New York Times newspaper's first rock critic. He'd begun his music career producing blues festivals throughout the South. He personally knew the major early blues artists. He'd hired them for his festivals. So they trusted him. Along the way, he decided to write a blues book about what he'd learned as an insider. But before he got into all that, Palmer took a deep dive into how and where blues developed. How it started. All the way back to Africa. ________________________________________________________ AMAZON LINK TO ROBERT PALMER'S DEEP BLUES BOOK GOES HERE. ________________________________________________________ For more info on ABL instruments, please email Rod Guevara at: elhotrod32@yahoo.com
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