The Blues

The blues are considered by many to be the ultimate source of virtually all modern genres of music. From blues came jazz; from jazz came rock and roll. Hip-hop, rap, alternative rock, and so on can all be seen as sprouting from these original genres. The blues themselves originated in African American spirituals sung on plantations by laboring slaves, with the call-and-response format, employed both vocally and instrumentally, evincing the genre's roots in West African music in particular. The blues, specifically, are held to have come into existence in the early twentieth century, with W. C. Handy playing one of the most significant roles. Robert Johnson, who is quoted in the opening epigraph of Young's collection, is generally credited with standardizing the twelve-bar blues, a term that refers to a certain style of chord progression.

In an interview for Bold Type, Young remarks, “The blues aren't...