Blues Music History Images
Down at the Crossroads
One of only two existing photos of the legendary Delta bluesman, Robert Johnson, 1935.
The Missing Link
Elvis Presley recording at Sam Phillips' Sun Records studio, 1954.
Feel Like Going Home
From the Delta by way of Chicago, the great Muddy Waters.
First Lady of Blues
Mamie Smith, the first Black singer to record the blues and the first blues artist to record a major hit, is pictured on a record cover here with her band in 1920, the same year her "Crazy Blues" would be recorded.
Come Together
Skip James performs for the crowd at the Newport Folk Festival in the summer of 1964—thirty some years after he recorded for Paramount Records. The Newport festivals of the 1960s introduced thousands of new, mostly white fans to African-American music.