Music of Mississippi

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Mississippi is best-known as the home of the blues, which developed among the freed African Americans in the latter half of the 19th century. The Delta blues is the style most closely associated with the state, and includes legendary performers like Robert Johnson and Mississippi John Hurt.

The fiddle and banjo are common folk instruments in Mississippi, which has also seen some development as a gospel, country music and Appalachian folk music center. The Leake County Revelers' brand of folk music saw some national popularity late in the 1930s, at around the same time as Mississippi native Jimmie Rodgers innovated modern country music. Mississippi was also home to Malaco Records, a well-known indie R&B label.

Delta blues

Image:Robertjohson.jpgMain article: Delta blues

The Delta blues is often regarded as the most rootsy or traditional style of the blues, or as the ultimate origins of the blues. The style has also been called the "most influential form of rural blues (with an) eerie, sometimes demonic power that is unmatched by other American acoustic music" <ref>Template:Cite book</ref>. Many of these performers recorded in the early 20th century; however, by the 1950s, they were largely forgotten outside of Mississippi. Many moved to Chicago, and became a part of the more mainstream Chicago blues scene.

In the 1960s, however, a roots revival began across the United States, and interest in Mississippi's blues musicians increased.

Reference

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Further reading