The blues go up the Mississippi to Chicago

Beginning in the 1910s, many African-Americans in the Mississippi Delta left the rural South where they had grown up to move to the cities of the North. Their ancestors were, for the most part, slaves on the cotton plantations. It was by singing a mixture of traditional African music, work songs and Negro spirituals during their labour that they invented the blues. With the abolition of slavery, many African-Americans became sharecroppers and farmed the land of white owners in exchange for a share of the harvest. Before 1910, 90 percent of African Americans still lived in the southern United States. But segregation, frequent lynchings, and lack of opportunity drove many of them to migrate north, where cities are urbanizing at a phenomenal rate and offer work to anyone who wants it. It is also said that in the North, once the Mason-Dixon line that separated the abolitionist states from the others during the Civil War is crossed, blacks are no longer considered an inferior caste

Many black Americans then moved up the Mississippi Valley through Memphis, Tennessee, and St. Louis, Missouri, where some of them put down their baggage. Others, more numerous, continue on to Detroit, and especially Chicago, which is considered to be the promised land. Along the way, they spread the blues, which takes on a variety of forms as it makes its way up to the industrialized North. Beginning in the 1930s, urban culture, including pop music and jazz, greatly influenced blues singers. Blues bands incorporating guitar, piano and drums make their appearance, but without changing the soul of this new musical genre that marks the beginnings of the Chicago Blues. Tampa Red, Big Bill Broonzy, Little Brother Montgomery, Leon Carr and Memphis Minnie are all bluesmen of this era. The phenomenon of black migration became even more widespread from the 1940s onwards. The Second World War led to the development of industries in cities and created an even greater need for labour, particularly in the steel, shipbuilding and automobile industries. African-Americans work in Chicago factories and, at night, they go to the bars in the south of the city to relax and listen to music that helps them forget their difficulties: the blues. For although people earn a better living in Chicago than in the South, daily life remains difficult and, for many, disillusioned. Little by little, country blues, with its slow rhythm, evolves into an urban style, more rhythmic and faster. The electric guitar makes its appearance in the songs, while a certain Little Walter, a Louisiana musician who made the trip to Chicago in 1945, amplifies the sound of his harmonica to be heard under the screaming melody of the electric instruments. Thanks to the amplification, the sounds become more raw, more dramatic, more sensual as well.

The birth of a new genre

The city's jazz and blues clubs, mostly located in the black South Side, host concerts every night. Inside, the excitement is so great that the few musicians who still try to play acoustically soon end up asking for an amplifier to be heard. But before they can claim to be playing in a reputable club, most musicians make their debut on the street, where they hope to make a name for themselves. It's mostly in Maxwell Street, on the Near West Side, that this happens. The street is filled with music, singing, dancing, sweating until the early hours of the morning, without really knowing that a culture is being born. The greatest, from Muddy Waters to Howlin' Wolf and Little Walter, have played on Maxwell Street. At that time, the other way to make a name for yourself was to play in the " rent parties ". For if racism is less important than in the south of the country, African-Americans in Chicago are still discriminated against on a daily basis. Their rent, for example, is higher than that of other Chicagoans, because their arrival in a building often drives away white families. So, in order to pay their rent, they throw parties with blues musicians to set the mood, and each guest gives a little something to help. The most talented musicians make a name for themselves in this way and are propelled onto the stages of the most popular clubs. Many dream of performing at Ruby Lee Gatewood's Tavern, nicknamed The Gates, which has seen all the greats of the time play. In the late 1940s, Theresa's Lounge became the place to be seen and invited. It was Theresa Needham, nicknamed The Godmother of the Chicago Blu es, who gave birth to this club, nestled in a basement on the South Side.

Muddy Waters, the King of Chicago Blues

Chicago attracts for its numerous recording studios that emerge after the war and make all musicians fantasize. Yet even those who enjoy a certain notoriety must most often continue their food work in order to earn a decent living. This is the case of Muddy Waters, who works as a truck driver even though he has already recorded tracks with Chess Records, then called Aristocrat Records and will soon become THE recording studio of reference. The blues is successful, but it's hard to make a living from it; in fact, we hear that Muddy sells his records on his truck. Howlin' Wolfe sums it up pretty well: " When you ain't got no money to pay your house rent, you still got the blu es". It wasn't until 1948, after the release of I Can't Be Satisfied, I Feel Like Going Home and Rolling Stones, which became instant hits, that Muddy Waters was able to give up his driving job and devote himself entirely to his musical career

Muddy Waters, nicknamed because he enjoyed playing in the muddy waters of the Mississippi River as a child, truly popularized the new electric blues that emanated from clubs on the South Side. He is at the top of the Chicago Blues pyramid, ahead of Buddy Guy, Bo Diddley and Howlin' Wolf, who also record their albums at Chess Studios. The Chicago Blues laid the foundation for the emergence of future genres, including rock'n'roll, which emerged in the 1940s. Artists such as Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton recognized the influence of Muddy Waters. In fact, this influence is such that it extends beyond the borders of the United States. In 1962, five young people in a small town in England listened to Waters' albums and decided to form a band, and the Rolling Stones were born. Their name, the legendary British, was chosen in reference to Muddy's hit, released in 1950. Propelled to the rank of interplanetary stars, the Stones went on tour in the United States in 1964 and recorded a few songs at the Chess Studios. On this occasion, they met some of the musicians who had influenced their music, including Muddy Waters. At his side, they recorded a live album in 1981, entitled Live at the Checkerboard Lounge, Chicago 1981.

What's left of the blues in Chicago?

Today, thanks to its many clubs, Chicago continues to keep the legend alive. Most of the blues clubs frequented by the musicians who popularized the genre in the first half of the 20th century have disappeared (The Gates and Theresa's Lounge went out of business long ago), but others have taken over. Some of them have become legendary in their own right and are now a must-see during a stay in Chicago. This is the case of Kingston Mines, which opened in 1968 in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, but also of Rosa's Lounge, founded in 1978 by an Italian immigrant with a passion for the blues. Buddy Guy even opened his own club, Buddy Guy's Legends, in 1989. The lucky ones will be able to see him on stage, as he makes regular appearances, especially in January. For those who knew the great blues era, seeing Buddy Guy live is like a Chicago version of Proust's madeleine. Finally, since its opening in 1996, the House of Blues concert hall, located in the Marina City district, has also welcomed the biggest names in the genre.

If the blues does not yet have its own museum dedicated to Chicago, despite the promise of the Chicago Blues Experience which should open in the spring of 2019, it can be experienced in various ways during a stay in the windy city. Aside from its many clubs, packed every weekend, the city puts on a myriad of things to maintain its status as the land of the blues. Every summer, since 1984, the Chicago Blues Festival pays tribute to the blues with outdoor concerts. For three days, Millennium Park becomes a great place of festivities where people come to listen to the greatest blues musicians, from the old and new generations. Muddy Waters, B. B. King, Ray Charles and John Lee Hooker took part. If there is not much to see on Maxwell Street today, except for a small market in the summer, it is enough to look at the scene of the film Blues Brothers which takes place there to plunge into a Chicago today disappeared. By the way, 2020 and 2021 have been dedicated to Music in Chicago, with a series of public programs throughout the city. The idea is to celebrate Chicago's rich musical heritage and the genres that have helped build its identity, with the blues at the top of the list