Chicago blues
Chicago blues is an amplified urban blues style that developed in Chicago, combining electric instruments with strong ensemble rhythms.
Electric blues: Blues music that uses electrically amplified instruments, especially electric guitar. Chicago blues became one of the defining regional forms of amplified blues.
Great Migration: The movement of millions of African Americans from the South to other parts of the United States, especially from 1910 to 1970. Black migration brought Southern blues traditions and musicians to Chicago.
Muddy Waters: An American blues singer and guitarist whose amplified Chicago recordings helped define postwar blues. His band sound and performances became a central model for Chicago blues.
Maxwell Street: A historic Chicago street market where blues musicians performed for crowds and passersby. Its outdoor performances connected blues musicians with working-class city audiences.
Delta blues: A Mississippi blues tradition known for solo singing with guitar, bottleneck slide, and flexible rhythms. Its largely solo acoustic format contrasts with Chicago blues’s amplified ensemble arrangements.
Harmonica: A small free-reed instrument played by blowing and drawing air through reeds. Amplified harmonica gave Chicago ensembles a piercing lead voice.
Memphis Minnie: An influential blues singer and guitarist whose career spanned the Mississippi Delta, Memphis, and Chicago. Her Chicago recordings connected earlier guitar blues with the city’s developing scene.
Howlin' Wolf: An American blues singer and guitarist known for his powerful voice and commanding stage presence. His Chess recordings brought a raw, forceful vocal style to the Chicago sound.
Chess Records: A Chicago record label founded by Leonard and Phil Chess that released influential blues, rhythm and blues, and rock recordings. Chess recordings carried Chicago blues to national and international audiences.
Piedmont blues: An East Coast blues style known for intricate fingerpicking and ragtime-influenced guitar patterns. Its guitar-centered, often acoustic texture differs from Chicago’s electric band sound.