From its Mississippi Delta beginnings in the early 1900s to the revivals of the 1960s onwards, blues music has become a significant part of American culture and a major influence on jazz, soul, country and western, and pop. This comprehensive study of blues music disputes the idea that it is strictly derived from African rhythms, contending that is it "Southern" music as much as "black" music, and offers detailed analysis of leading blues musicians, from Count Basie to Robert Cray.