Memphis blues

The Memphis blues is a style of blues music that was created in the 1910s – 1930s by Memphis-area musicians like Frank Stokes, Sleepy John Estes, Furry Lewis and Memphis Minnie. The style was popular in vaudeville and medicine shows and was associated with Memphis's main entertainment area, Beale Street. W.C. Handy, the "Father of the Blues" published the song "The Memphis Blues". In lyrics, the phrase has been used to describe a depressed mood.

History

In addition to guitar-based blues, jug bands, such as Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers and the Memphis Jug Band, were extremely popular practitioners of Memphis blues. The jug band style emphasized the danceable, syncopated rhythms of early jazz and a range of other folk styles. It was played on simple, sometimes homemade, instruments such as harmonicas, violins, mandolins, banjos, and guitars, backed by washboards, kazoo, guimbarde and jugs blown to supply the bass.

Electric blues

After World War II, as African-Americans left the Mississippi Delta and other impoverished areas of the South for urban areas, many musicians gravitated to the blues scene in Memphis, changing the classic Memphis blues sound. Musicians such as Howlin' Wolf, Willie Nix, Ike Turner, and B.B.King performed on Beale Street and in West Memphis and recorded some of the classic electric blues, rhythm and blues and rock & roll records for labels such as Sam Phillips's Sun Records. Sun recorded Howlin' Wolf (before he moved to Chicago), Willie Nix, Ike Turner, B.B.King and others. Electric Memphis blues featured "explosive, distorted electric guitar work, thunderous drumming, and fierce, declamatory vocals." Musicians associated with Sun Records included Joe Hill Louis, Willie Johnson and Pat Hare.

Memphis blues (disambiguation)

Memphis blues is a music genre.

Memphis blues may refer to:

Memphis Blues (baseball)

The Memphis Blues were a minor league baseball team from Memphis, Tennessee that played from 1968 to 1976. From 1968 to 1973, they were affiliated with the New York Mets and they played in the Texas League. From 1974 to 1975, they were affiliated with the Montreal Expos and they played in the International League. They were affiliated with the Houston Astros in 1976 and they played in the International League then as well. They played their home games at Tim McCarver Stadium. After the completion of the 1976 season the Blues franchise was forfeited back to the International League due to financial difficulties. The league awarded the franchise to Charleston, West Virginia, whose team had been purchased and moved to Columbus, Ohio. The new Charleston franchise continued to use the Charleston Charlies name.

When they joined the Texas League in 1968, they became the first Memphis, Tennessee-based minor league team in eight years.

The Blues won Texas League playoff championships in 1969 and 1973. In their maiden IL season, they won 87 games and a division title, led by catcher Gary Carter, a future member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. After the Blues moved to Charleston for 1977, Memphis was without baseball for a season before the successful revival of the Memphis Chicks, a Double-A team that played through 1997. Triple-A baseball returned to the city in 1998 with the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds.