Delta Blues Playlist

via mojohand.com

The Mississippi Delta is the region in the southern United States, also known as the Deep South, where blues music originated. The area, known for its poverty, sharecroppers and farming, is the place where African-Americans on the plantations started singing the music originating from West Africa, combining it with work songs, spirituals, and instead of talking about God (gospel), talked about women, working conditions, and poverty, which became the blues. 

From this focal point between the banks of the Mississippi River lie the states of Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana and Arkansas, where the most famous movers and innovators and legends of the blues emerged. From Robert Johnson to Muddy Waters to BB King to John Lee Hooker and hundreds more, this was not just fertile land for farming but also for growing legends.

The country style, usually with a bottleneck slide, no amplification, and loose, raw, solo arrangements define the sound of the delta blues. It is the origin, and from the 1920s onwards was the prime location for bluesmen to shine.

I've complied a list of 10 songs from the Delta for your blues needs:

10. Depot Blues - Son House

9. Country Blues - Muddy Waters

8. Sittin' on Top of the World - Mississippi Sheiks

7. Goin' Down to the River - Mississippi Fred McDowell 

6. Big Road Blues - Tommy Johnson

5. Someday Baby - Sleepy John Estes

4. Grandpa Got Drunk - Kokomo Arnold

3. Good Gal Blues - Sonnyboy Williamson I

2. Black Spider Blues - Robert Lockwood Jr.

1. Crossroad Blues - Robert Johnson