re many other blacks simply became familiar with the same songs. The composing of work songs was done collectively and sponaneously. The slave owner also encouraged work songs because the songs increased work output and maintaned moral. Slaves viewed the songs as a way to rebel and show resistance. Following the Civil War, the blues arose as "a distillate of the African music brought over by slaves. Field hollers, ballads, church music and rhythmic dance tunes called jump-ups evolved into music that a singer who would engage in the call-and-response with his guitar. He would sing a line, and the guitar would answer it."(James, 173) The guitar did not enjoy widespread popularity with blues musicians until about the turn of the century. Until then, the banjo was the primary blues instrument. By the 1890's, the blues were sung in many of the rural areas of the South, and by 1910 the word "blues" as applied to the musical tradition was in fairly common use (Marshall & Basquiat, 40). Some "bluesologists" claim that the first blues song that was ever written down was 'Dallas Blues,' published in 1912 by Hart Wand, a white violinist from Oklahoma City. (Shirmer, 40) Another form of the"blues", Delta blues, came out of the farming and segregated black enclaves especially social gatherings. Influences ranged from dances to church events, and "Juke Joints" were eventually opened. "Juke Joints" were places that people gathered at to dance and gamble. The delta blues represented a definite break in country-dance music. Couple dancing and hip shaking soon became popular styles of dancing. (Priestley, 189) This is where the guitar evetually emerged as a center piece of the blues world. Guitars were used because they had a broad range of notes, they were portable, affordable, and they were permitted by slave owners at that time. The slave owners didn't permit drums because they thought the drums could be used to signal to each other. The self-taught d...
