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revived in the sixties and wrote new material which sparked a new beginning in her blues career.

Her songs have been covered by many musicians mainly a song called freight Train' written when she was eleven. Those musicians were Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead, Peter Paul and Mary, Taj Mahal and Matt Valentine.

Musical Elements:
In the early 1900's blues music didn't have a well defined name for its chord progressions as it had many forms like 8 bar 16 bar and on rare occasions 9 bar.

Not until the 1930's did we start to acknowledge 12 bars as a standard blues progression becoming common practice.

Melodically and harmonically blues music has a heavy emphasis on blues notes' which are the flattened 3rd, 5th and 7th in relation to the major scale. This is arguably the biggest influence on music as we know it today.
Before blues such notes were only used as grace notes but the clash of notes was popularized by blues which continued of course into rock music and other genres in modern times.

Rhythm is such a big part of blues music as it gives listeners a direct connection with the style as soon as a song starts. The swung laid back, percussive grooves of guitarists such as Son House in the early to mid 1900s really set a staple for that slow or pacey blues sound.

Blues lyrics originally were derived from African-American slaves singing repetitive melodic lines of struggle while working countless hours on their masters farms and rail roads etc. It was some what of a code to talk to each other about their struggles without worrying about getting court chatting about the torrents of society in those years.

Later Blues lyrics contain more subjects but still had the same feeling with words about lost love, cruelty of police officers and the general harsh realities of life. Although sombre in tone blues music to this day is used to make listeners feel good and for the players to unleash and be free of their troubles at least for a few minutes.

Country Blues today:
The style today is scattered across all genres of music with the blues and pentatonic scale conquering most of popular music from heavy metal to blue grass.
In the past few decades there has been a brand of musicians who have stayed true to blues traditions but added a modern rock/pop flair such as Stevie Ray Vaughn, ZZ Top, Eric Clapton and most recently John Fruciante (Chilli Peppers) and John Mayer who is slowly bridging the gap and popularising blues/pop music again as it was when samples were unknown and musicianship and song writing were paramount in making good compositions.

Conclusion:
In conclusion the importance of Country Blues has played a major part in the rise of all genres of blues and other music particularly rock music. Without the struggles of African Americans and the like we wouldn't have been blessed to have found blues music which would spawn so many other genres, enabling musicians to explore and create their own styles and expressions.

Learn more about this author, Graham Calabro.
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