Chicago Blues

At one time, Chicago Blues meant any blues played through an amplifier. Countless Delta-bred musicians migrated to Chicago in the 1930s and '40s. These musicians married the rolling rhythms and sparse Country Blues sound of the South to the humming stewpot of the Chicago club scene, creating a loud, mean and dirty sound they constantly turned up so it could be heard over the din of a major city. Howlin' Wolf, Elmore James and Muddy Waters formed some of the first amplified blues bands with fellow servicemen recently discharged from duty. The line-up usually consisted of slide guitar, harmonica, a rock-solid rhythm section and barrelhouse piano with a singer shouting at the top of his lungs to be heard over the ungodly amount of distortion. Eventually the scene expanded to include the stark precision of Otis Rush's soul-flavored blues and the Boogie Rock of Jimmy Reed and Robert Nighthawk. Chicago Blues lives today with the continuing work of Buddy Guy and James Cotton as well as an ever-growing list of newcomers to the scene.