Jacob Mercier
Georgine Clark
March 6th, 2013
English 203

Delta Blues Critique Dr. Stephen King gave a presentation on blues music in the delta, what methods are used to attract the blues pilgrims to the region, and we reviewed a few of the local ads both critically and from a non-critic stand point. Dr. King clearly stated that blues did not originate in Mississippi, nor are we the birthplace of America’s music. He also identified that most of the modern blues music is not blues at all, but a sub-genre called rhythm and blues. While blues is primarily emphasized vocals, and talked about struggles, hardships, and joys, rhythm and blues had more emphasis on the instruments played, and had its roots from gospel, blues, jazz, and even some country music. The electric guitar was played more in rhythm and blues than in the real blues. When trying to attract the rich white making pilgrimages, the cities tend to stray from the local blues artists, and true musicians to the big name artists. This is because most of the pilgrims do not know what the actual blues sounds like. They like what they think blues is supposed to sound like. This is not good for local musicians because they do not get paid well if a big name is brought in, and they tend to resent the more popular artist. In the reviewing of the advertisements, we found that the critical viewpoint was much worse than the normal persons point of view. The analysis of the ad revealed things that the