The history of blues music is drenched in melancholy. So it’s no surprise when some of the most gut-wrenching blues tunes become standards.

We explore where the blues came from and its influence on many modern genres of music. We explore where the blues came from and how it went on to influence many modern genres of music. From Delta ...

Style: If you could each have only one blues album, which would you choose as closest to your heart? Annie Raines: I’m pretty passionately addicted to “Chicago Bound” by Jimmy Rogers. That’s the stuff ...

As the National Museum of African American Music opens its doors, journalists from the USA TODAY Network explore the stories, places and people who helped make music what it is today in our expansive ...

You don’t get the nickname “Lightnin’” for no reason, especially when you’re a blues artist. Born March 15, 1912, in Centerville, Texas, Samuel John “Lightnin’” Hopkins became one of the most ...

Learn how to boost your blues to pro levels of authenticity with a handful of great chords and a rock-solid rhythm technique ...

The renowned bluesman, who died in 2015, spoke to Fresh Air in 1996 about growing up as the son of a sharecropper — and leaving the plantation as a young man to pursue a career in music. This is FRESH ...

100 years ago, Mamie Smith recorded a seminal blues hit that gave voice to outrage at violence against Black Americans. By David Hajdu Mr. Hajdu is a cultural historian and music critic. On Aug. 10, ...

As the National Museum of African American Music opens its doors, journalists from the USA TODAY Network explore the stories, places and people who helped make music what it is today in our expansive ...