Blues

The blues is a vocal and instrumental form of music based on the use of the blue notes and a repetitive pattern which is mo

The blues is a vocal and instrumental form of music based on the use of the blue notes and a repetitive pattern which is most of the time a twelve-bar structure. It evolved in the United States in the communities of former African slaves, from spirituals, praise songs, field hollers, shouts, and chants. The use of blue notes and the prominence of call-and-response patterns in the music and lyrics are indicative of the blues' West African pedigree. The blues influenced later American and Western popular music, as it became part of the genres of ragtime, jazz, bluegrass, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, hip-hop, country music, and pop songs.

The phrase the blues is a reference to having a fit of the blue devils, meaning 'down' spirits, depression and sadness. An early reference to "the blues" can be found in George Colman's farce Blue devils, a farce in one act (1798). Later during the 19th century, the phrase was used as a euphemism for delirium tremens and the police.