Electric Blues

In the 1940s Chicago blues artists and guitarists like Texas-born, Los Angeles-based T. BONE WALKER combined blues, jazz and electricity to make for an energizing new sound. In the ’50s electric blues artists like BO DIDDLEY and CHUCK BERRY not only energized early American rockers like ELVIS PRESLEY (learn about Elvis’s admiration of Berry’s music), but their forays into the United Kingdom–particularly a 1958 tour by MUDDY WATERS–also inspired an entire generation of young British guitarists like JIMMY PAGE, KEITH RICHARDS and ERIC CLAPTON to create a new genre called “blues-rock.” (Look in the “skiffle” section below to learn a bit more about Page and his earliest musical adventures.) [Watch T-Bone Walker play, “Don’t Throw Your Love on Me So Strong” | Watch Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry on stage together in 1973]

Comments are closed.