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Classic Blues

Notable artists include Ma Rainey, Mamie Smith, Memphis Minnie, Bessie Smith

The Classic Blues was created at the dawn of the modern recording industry. Contrary to the Delta Blues style, that was made almost exclusively of men, it's predecessor, the Classic Blues, was dominated by popular women performers. Mamie Smith first recorded the Blues in 1920, including the hugely popular hit "Crazy Blues". It was because of this that many other black female singers were able to record, including one of the greatest Classic Blues women: Ma Rainey. Nearly every female Blues singer for years after Ma could credit her for some part of their act and success.
A definition of Classic Blues wouldn't be complete without mention of Bessie Smith. She has poften been cited as one of the greatest Classic musicians to have lived. Regaded as the "Empress of the Blues", she was massively successful, putting out hundreds of records and commanding a one of the highest salaries paid to any African American in the country at the time. Famously, she died in a car accident on the Blue Highway, highway 61, outside of Clarksdale, MS. Her life and death have been transformed into the things of legend, with movies, books, plays, and songs being created enshrining her memory. She's influenced many modern Blueswomen, such as Janis Joplin and Susan Tedeschi.
The Classic Blues had it's roots in traveling music shows, which were popular throughout the 1800s and early 1900s, since there was largely no radio, certainly no TV, and people who owned record players were few and far between. Black entertainers, particularly women, could earn a decent wage traveling with these bands, often in the form of medicine shows (shows that would play music and sell 'special elixurs and formulas', which were mostly sugar water,) and Minstrel troupes, singing and playing to entertain people across the country. Many were backed by horns and pianos, which would be the dominant instruments used in Classic Blues. Many of the Women blues artists/entertainers of this time had their starts performing in these shows before beginning their recording careers. When they did begin recording, thanks to Ma Rainey, they were massively popular. It was because of these Blueswomen that record companies began to pursue a large demographic they'd overlooked: minorities. This led them to seek out and record more black entertainers, particularly Blues musicians. The Delta Blues, and many, if not nearly all other forms of Blues may never have been recorded like it was had it not been for the women who pioneered the way.

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