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Swamp blues

Music genre; form of Louisiana blues

Swamp blues
Summary

Music genre; form of Louisiana blues

FieldValue
nameSwamp blues
stylistic_origins
cultural_origins1950s, Louisiana, U.S.
derivatives

Swamp blues is a type of Louisiana blues that developed in the Black communities of Southwest Louisiana in the 1950s. It incorporates influences from other genres, particularly zydeco and Cajun. Its most successful proponents include Slim Harpo and Lightnin' Slim, who enjoyed national rhythm and blues hits.

Characteristics

[[Lazy Lester]] in 2004

Swamp blues has a laid-back, slow tempo, and generally is a more rhythmic variation of Louisiana blues, incorporating influences from New Orleans blues, zydeco, soul music and Cajun music. It is characterized by simple but effective guitar work and is influenced by the boogie patterns used on Jimmy Reed records and the work of Lightnin' Hopkins and Muddy Waters. The sound of swamp blues was characterized by "eerie echo, shuffle beats, tremolo guitars, searing harmonica and sparse percussion".

History

Swamp blues originated in the Black communities of Southwest Louisiana in the 1950s and was particularly associated with record producer J. D. "Jay" Miller. The most successful and influential artist with whom he worked was guitarist and harmonica player Slim Harpo.{{cite book

References

References

  1. Fontenot, Robert. (February 24, 2019). "What Is Swamp Rock? A look at this Southern mix of country, funk, and soul". Liveabout.
  2. Malone, Evelyn Levingston, "Swamp Blues: Race And Vinyl From Southwest Louisiana" (2016). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 2457. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2457
  3. Du Noyer, Paul (2003). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music. Fulham, London: Flame Tree Publishing. p. 161. {{ISBN. 1-904041-96-5.
  4. Koda, Cub. "Swamp blues". [[AllMusic]].
  5. R. Unterberger, S. Hicks and J. Dempsey, ''Music USA: the Rough Guide'' (London: Rough Guides, 1999), {{ISBN. 1-85828-421-X, p. 175.
  6. 1-55728-452-0, pp. 140–4.
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

blues-music-genres music-of-louisiana
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