The Birth of the Blues

Along the muddy Mississippi River, families worked hard in the fields all day long.

In the cool evenings they sat on porches, strummed guitars, and sang about happy days and sad days too.

The songs had a special rolling, bluesy feeling — because they were called the blues.

Kids and grown-ups all around learned to play them, using guitars, harmonicas, and just their voices.

The blues traveled up the river to big cities, and later grew into jazz, rock and roll, and so much more.