Style of Blues
Memphis nurtured several distinct forms of the blues, most significantly jug bands, duos composed of formerly solo Delta-style guitarists and, later, a newly sophisticated uptown blues sound.

Among more traditional instruments like guitars, banjos and pianos, jug bands used clay jugs, kazoos, and washboards — instruments derived from African "voice disguisers" and scraping percussion instruments — to create a style of blues that often evoked more of a good time feel than the melancholy tone of rural guitar-based Delta blues.

As in many other major cities, Memphis's urban audiences were accustomed to the larger musical ensembles of ragtime and jazz, and solo artists found themselves competing against much louder music in the larger, noisier venues of Beale Street. Banding together in duos to appeal to the new expectations, Memphis blues musicians pioneered the now standard practice of assigning lead and rhythm parts to guitarists.

By the early 1950s, a new, more "uptown" blues sound began to emerge from Memphis. Listen for the broad instrumentation in the horns and smooth vocals in the urbane style of "Three O' Clock Blues," B.B. King's first number one hit in 1952:

Audio Sample
Title: "Three O'Clock Blues"
Performed by: BB King
Written by: Riley B. King and Jules Bihari (Publisher: Careers BMG Music Publishing
Source: Live in Cook County Jail (MCA, 11769)
Recorded: 1971
Available to teachers on: The Blues Teacher's Guide CD

St. Louis made its own imprint on the blues with a style marked by piano and solo vocalists or piano with a small combo or large band. The early St. Louis blues style was significantly influenced by ragtime and jazz, with little of the country blues feel.