3 O'Clock Blues Analysis
“3 O’Clock Blues”, as performed by BB King
An analysis
BB King is undoubtedly one of the greatest blues musicians, and an equally unparalleled pioneer of guitar music. Brought up in the midst of poverty, strife, and struggle of the rural Mississippi Delta, King experienced great hardships from a young age, and used this as a source of inspiration for much of his later music (King & Ritz, 1996).
King’s celebrated music career emerged from very modest beginnings. At the age of 18, King started to perform his renditions of traditional Delta blues music at churches around local areas in Mississippi; but his talents saw him gradually travel further up north over the years, as many blues musicians, and many other African-Americans residing in the South did. This mass human migration that King was part of is known today as the Great Migration.
Many factors contributed to the Great Migration. Historically, the Southern states have been where the slaves were forced to work, and many African-Americans wanted to escape the rife discrimination (which was still very prevalent despite the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 and numerous other civil rights acts), and ultimately to seize the opportunities that the World Wars had provided in the industrial sectors, to become a step closer to social and economic freedom. With this dispersion of the African-American community came the spread of their culture across the United States, including blues music.
Blues music was now being played by radio stations across the country. King worked at a Memphis radio station for some time, and was exposed to the new ‘electrified’ blues sound, where the rural staple - the acoustic guitar - was replaced by the electric guitar. King was quoted as saying “Once I’d hear him for the first time [T-Bone Walker, one of the pioneers of this new blues sound], I knew I’d have to have [an electric guitar] myself. ‘Had to have one, short of stealing!” (Danchin, 1998). This exposure to urban
An analysis
BB King is undoubtedly one of the greatest blues musicians, and an equally unparalleled pioneer of guitar music. Brought up in the midst of poverty, strife, and struggle of the rural Mississippi Delta, King experienced great hardships from a young age, and used this as a source of inspiration for much of his later music (King & Ritz, 1996).
King’s celebrated music career emerged from very modest beginnings. At the age of 18, King started to perform his renditions of traditional Delta blues music at churches around local areas in Mississippi; but his talents saw him gradually travel further up north over the years, as many blues musicians, and many other African-Americans residing in the South did. This mass human migration that King was part of is known today as the Great Migration.
Many factors contributed to the Great Migration. Historically, the Southern states have been where the slaves were forced to work, and many African-Americans wanted to escape the rife discrimination (which was still very prevalent despite the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 and numerous other civil rights acts), and ultimately to seize the opportunities that the World Wars had provided in the industrial sectors, to become a step closer to social and economic freedom. With this dispersion of the African-American community came the spread of their culture across the United States, including blues music.
Blues music was now being played by radio stations across the country. King worked at a Memphis radio station for some time, and was exposed to the new ‘electrified’ blues sound, where the rural staple - the acoustic guitar - was replaced by the electric guitar. King was quoted as saying “Once I’d hear him for the first time [T-Bone Walker, one of the pioneers of this new blues sound], I knew I’d have to have [an electric guitar] myself. ‘Had to have one, short of stealing!” (Danchin, 1998). This exposure to urban