Jazz from the South

The roots of many types of American-born music are in the South. White Europeans who settled in the South brought traditional folk music and religious music. They adapted traditional folk songs and inserted into the lyrics the names of American places, events, and people. They combined the old with the new and created what was first called “mountain music.” Later it was called “hillbilly music” and then “country music.” They created, played, sang, and listened to this music for entertainment and to forget about their harsh living conditions.

Enslaved Africans in the South created hand-made drums and simple stringed instruments. These people added lyrics about the cruel treatment they received from slave masters and harsh working conditions in the fields. The music they created came to be called “blues.” These people also heard stories from the Bible and English songs in churches. They adapted these stories and songs and made their own sacred songs later called “spirituals.”

After the Civil War ended in 1865, some former slaves moved to New Orleans. Among them were self-taught musicians who used their unique blues sounds to earn money or just to have a good time. When these black people and creoles of color played music together, they joined the free sound and blue notes of blues with European band and orchestra music. Together they created a new hot sound called “jazz.”

That music went up the Mississippi River on riverboats to St. Louis, Chicago, and then to New York. It became popular around the world.

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