Introduction

In the early years of the twenty-first century, the blues — which, to the best of our knowledge, date from the 1890s — have grown in popularity and influence from a little-known regional style found among African Americans to a worldwide phenomenon. The blues are the heartbeat of rock and roll, and they are still played, albeit in another form, by the most advanced jazz musicians. Blues artists successfully tour the globe, communicating beyond the limitations of the English language. A CD reissue of an obscure Mississippi bluesman named Robert Johnson has sold over a million copies, and contains fervent tributes written by Eric Clapton and Keith Richards. There are blues museums, magazines, and numerous books devoted to blues singers, movies and documentary films devoted to the blues, and blues societies all over the world.