Skip to main content

Exploring the Blues: A Quiz on Its History and Influences

This quiz explores various aspects of the blues genre, from seminal artists to significant historical contexts and influences.

#Blues #Music History #Cultural Influences #Jazz #Spirituals #Movies

1 [24] Many seminal blues artists such as ________ or Skip James had several religious songs or spirituals in their repertoire.

2 Which of the following titles did Blues have?

3 What format does Blues follow?

4 Pianist ________ began his career in Memphis, but his distinct style was smoother and had some swing elements.

5 Usually jazz had harmonic structures stemming from ________, whereas blues had blues forms such as the 12-bar blues.

6 Spiritual singing developed because African-American communities could gather for mass or worship gatherings, which were called ________.

7 Who played Charlie in the movie Blues?

8 Dorsey helped to popularize ________.

9 In the late 1950s, a new blues style emerged on Chicago's West Side pioneered by Magic Sam, ________ and Otis Rush on Cobra Records.

10 Who played Head in the movie Blues?

💡 Interesting Facts

  • singer Al Bernard, known as "The Boy From Dixie", helped popularize W.C. Handy's blues songs, and also recorded as the female half of a vocal duo with Ernie Hare.
  • radio DJ and blues expert Mike Raven also worked at various times as an actor in horror films, a sculptor, a sheep farmer, a presenter of religious TV programmes, and a ballet dancer.
  • in his mid-career, the American blues and boogie-woogie pianist, Big Joe Duskin, did not touch a keyboard for sixteen years as a promise to his father who thought he played the devil's music.
  • in 1995, American blues harmonica player James Harman recorded a song named for the Zoo Bar club in Lincoln, Nebraska.
  • the Beirut-born, American blues guitarist Otis Grand was voted 'Best UK Blues Guitarist' seven years running (1990–1996) by the British Blues Connection magazine.
  • the Canadian television series The John Allan Cameron Show featured different traditions of folk music from Celtic to blues.
  • the music of Louisiana blues performer Lonesome Sundown was described by his producer as "the sound of the swamp".
  • the American Piedmont and country blues singer and guitarist Alec Seward was one of at least five musicians billed as 'Guitar Slim'.
  • the American blues singer and pianist Maggie Jones, who recorded 38 songs between 1923 and 1926, was billed as "The Texan Nightingale".
  • the American blues pianist Buster Pickens was shot dead following an argument in a bar.
  • in 1987, American blues pianist Whistlin' Alex Moore became the first African American Texan to be awarded the National Heritage Fellowship.
  • due to his home country's proximity to Ireland, the music of Davy Knowles – a Manx blues guitarist – is influenced by the Celtic genre.
  • blues singer Jesse Fortune, better known as the "Fortune Tellin' Man," passed on performing in Europe because he did not want to disappoint customers at his Chicago barbershop.
  • blues scholars seem undecided if the American blues singer, guitarist and songwriter Ramblin' Thomas's nickname referred to his style of playing, or itinerant nature.
  • blues musician Henry Gray is credited as helping to create the distinctive sound of the Chicago blues piano.
  • Billy Idol guitarist Steve Stevens created the album Flamenco A Go-Go after seeing flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucía play live, and that the album spans many genres including dance, flamenco, blues and rock.
  • Arthur Adams, the singer of "You've Got the Floor", was a bandleader at B. B. King's blues club in Los Angeles.
  • blues-harp, rather than a type of harp, is a style of playing an ordinary diatonic harmonica that originated in the blues in which the in-drawn notes are made primary and the blown notes secondary.
  • blind blues musician Cortelia Clark won a Grammy for his 1966 album recorded live on a sidewalk in Nashville, Tennessee.
  • Will Dockery, by building Dockery Plantation (pictured), home of legendary bluesman Robert Johnson, was fundamental to the development of the blues.
  • Sugar Blue, the American Grammy Award winning blues harmonicist, took his stage name from Sidney Bechet's track, "Sugar Blues".
  • Matthew T. Dickerson is a computational geometer, scholar of J. R. R. Tolkien and the Inklings, novelist, blues musician, fly fisherman, maple sugar farmer, and beekeeper.
  • 1950s blues musician Little Sammy Davis left the music scene for decades before being rediscovered in 1990.
    • Previous Quiz Next Quiz

    Related Quizzes

    Exploring Amsterdam: A Quiz on Its Culture and History

    #Amsterdam #Quiz #Culture #History #Movies

    Exploring Antarctica: A Comprehensive Quiz

    #Antarctica #geography #wildlife #movies #education

    Exploring Baritone Roles and Composers

    #Baritone #Opera #Composers #Music History #Vocal Performance

    Exploring the Baroque Era: Art, Music, and Literature

    #Baroque #art history #music history #literature #Antonio Vivaldi #J.S. Bach #G.F. Handel #Siglo de Oro

    Exploring Cairo: A Quiz on the Capital of Egypt

    #Cairo #Egypt #Geography #Culture #History #Population #Movies

    Chess Quiz: Test Your Knowledge on the Game and Its Cultural Impact

    #Chess #FIDE #movies #chess history #cheating in chess #world championship

    Exploring the World of Chocolate in Film and Culture

    #Chocolate #Film #Movies #Amino Acids #Cultural Significance #Quizzes

    Christmas Movie and Traditions Quiz

    #Christmas #Movies #Traditions #Holiday #Quiz