Muddy Waters Folk Singer

Sorry Rok2id, Bessie Smith was belting out the blues with a big band before the delta players you refer to had picked up guitars. Delta blues is one subset of the blues but just one. There are many more varieties and lots of good blues still being played.

There are a few greats scattered around the south, including Bessie who I think is fron TN. I have three of her boxed sets. Great stuff, but very poor recordings. That is the sad part, the music was great before the technology was. I use the word FEW in a relative sense, because Mississippi is the source and mother lode of the blues. And even within the state of Ms, it is concentrated in the delta. I went to the Blues Museum in Clarksdale, MS and was amazed at the number of musicians from that state. I mean big time people. Blues, Country, soul/R&B, rock&roll, Jazz, Gospel even Classical. Mississppi punches well above it's weight when it comes to music. There are greats all over, but the sheer concentration of the numbers is what sets Mississippi apart.

BTW, I disagree that the delta blues is a subset. It is the original, the source therefore it cannot be a subset. All that it spawned can be called subsets. The Delta blues is just the blues. Texas / louisiana ,Chicago, The Carolinas may be called subsets. I don't list memphis because it is where the Delta starts.

Rok2id, there is no original source for any genre of music. It's evolution not revolution, as Duane Allman once said about another topic.

I hope you never go to Mississippi and say that. :)