The Diminishing Rural Residue of Folklore in City and Urban Blues, Chicago 1915-1950
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11679166 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jon Michael Spencer (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1992 |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 25-25 |
| Publication date | 1992-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Black Music Research Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0276-3605 • E-ISSN: 1946-1615 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/779280 |
| OpenAlex | W2326790819 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 3 |
The purpose of this paper is to trace the movement of blues from the rural South (country to the North (city and to explain the diminishing of the rural residue of folklore in blues as it evolved into modern I will argue that the rural folkways that were part and parcel of country blues were at first modified in the new city setting, subsequently subjugated and sublimated in the modem urban context, and then increasingly (though never fully) forgotten by succeeding generations. Thus, and blues (as offspring of country blues) reflected the conditioning of rural emigrants from the South to the city's new universe of experience. The paradigmatic case study for this argument is the movement of blues from its southern capstone and spiritual home, the Mississippi Delta, to Chicago, the blues capital of the North during the Great Migration and beyond. To comprehend the plenary dynamics of the country-to-city diaspora as examined in the Mississippi-to-Chicago migration will be to understand why and how the rural residue of folklore diminished in and blues-not only in Chicago, but in Memphis, St. Louis, Detroit, Pittsburgh, New York, and other areas. Before examining why the residue of folklore in country blues was diminished in blues as blues developed into its successor, I need to discuss the blues continuum that I will use to delineate the changes that occurred in the blues. The continuum is
Art · Art history · Blues · Folklore · Literature · Visual arts · Music History and Culture · Race, History, and American Society · Theater, Performance, and Music History
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |