Truly the father of Chicago blues, Muddy brought his Mississippi sound up from the Delta, combined it with the electric guitar, and redefined the genre. Waters taught himself how to play the blues by listening to Robert Johnson records. Eventually, he left Mississippi to play and sing in the Silas Gr

Gritty, Primal, Visceral

Bessie Smith, the 6-foot, 200-pound Empress of the Blues, commanded stage and street with a fierce violence and a resonant, endless well of a voice. Born in Chattanooga, Tennesee, in 1894, Smith began her career singing on street corners. Under the mentorship of "Ma" Rainey, one of the most popular p

Ecstatic, Gritty, In-your-face, Violent

Smith was born Mamie Robinson in Cincinnati, Ohio. She toured with African-American vaudeville and minstrel shows until settling in New York City in 1913, where she worked as a cabaret singer. She appeared in songwriter Perry Bradford's musical "Made in Harlem" in 1918. In early 1920, Okeh Records

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