At The Crossroads

Blues Culture Fights to Reclaim Its African-American Heritage

- Rosalind Cummings-Yeates

The blues is Black music. It is the essence of the field hollers, chants and rhythms that our enslaved ancestors created to communicate and alleviate some of their pain. Not only is blues an important part of Black culture and history, but it also forms the foundation of all popular American music genres, from jazz to rock, country, soul and hip-hop.

These essential facts, however, don’t prevent blues from being claimed and appropriated by others, to the point that many blues festivals, labels and awards events don’t feature any African-Americans at all. After decades of musically defining the African-American experience, the blues is being homogenized into a genre disconnected from its Black heritage.

“I often hear the phrase, ‘White folks are going to take over the blues,’ says Grammy-nominated blues musician and blues educator Billy Branch. “Well, too late; they’ve had it for decades. Most of the audiences are White, and there’s been a trend of blues fests without any Black people. The remedy is for Black entrepreneurial professionalism to enter the scene. We need Black people to create blues fests, blues-themed movies and [we need] hip-hop artists to embrace the blues. We need blues artists to open hip-hop shows and be featured on songs. There’s a little of that happening, but it needs to be done on a grand scale.

“Blues is something to be very proud of. Our ancestors created it, and it gave birth to all of America’s music,” Branch says.

But the rest of America’s music enjoys much more visibility and access than blues. You can hear a myriad of genres and styles on the radio, TV and streaming services, however, the blues is rarely one of them. Black people need to be exposed to the blues, and education about what the genre and culture really represents is a great place to start.