ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we will show how the blues returned to prominence in American popular music, propelled by several separate, but related movements. The folk revival, which began in the late 1940s and blossomed in the later 1950s, helped bring renewed attention to acoustic blues performers. The revival inspired a new generation of scholars to search out many of the performers from the 1920s and 1930s, and to encourage them to begin playing the music again. And
many folk revivalists themselves began specializing in acoustic blues. Beginning in the late 1950s, blues musicians began touring Europe, often sponsored by local jazz clubs. This inspired young musicians to take up the music, including a key group of players in London who met at a local club to swap songs and guitar licks. These musicians went on to form pop groups, including the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, and many others, who brought the music back to the United States. Several related movements in American music — notably the increased popularity of soul — also helped to reintroduce the blues aesthetic. And, in Chicago, the blues clubs continued to flourish, with older musicians such as Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf serving as mentors to a new generation of players.
