Post-Civil War Origins of the Blues: Work Songs

Another important post-Civil War predecessor of the blues was the work song. Based on the slave-system work song, its steady rhythm and short rhyming phrases were adapted for use for any type of group work activity throughout the end of the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth.

Even as late as the 1950s one could find segregated work gangs throughout the south, often working alongside roads chopping weeds, digging stumps, etc. Prison work songs, such as those formerly predominant in Southern Texas and Mississippi's famous Parchman prison farm, also had a distinctive and loose rhythmic phrasing that is reminiscent of the modern blues. It is important to note, however, that both work songs and prison work songs existed simultaneously, as the work song endured well beyond the first recorded blues. Thus both undoubtedly influenced each other, although how much cannot be measured.

previous | next

| Home | History | Culture | Archives | Guides | Search |


National Center for Supercomputing Applications