The first thing that you have to accept when you write a book about early blues music, Dr. Gregg Kimball says, is that you’ll never solve the mystery of it all. “We just don’t know,” says the author ...

The blues took form in the Mississippi Delta and nearby river towns, where Black workers used song to mark time, trade news, and voice grief under Jim Crow rules. Travel to these places adds context ...

Blues music is a soulful genre. It has roots deeply embedded in the Black experience. Blues has long been a powerful expression of the struggles, joys and resilience of Black life in America.