The Blues originated in hundreds of juke joints in the Mississippi Delta region, which is the primarily area between Memphis and Natchez, Mississippi. This authentic American musical form is a 12-bar verse with repetitive chorus, sung with sorrowful, Gospel-like passion by the descendants of African slaves. There were many great Blues artists in the Delta who gave legendary performances in one town before drifting on to the next town.

    Memphis, like other large cities in the Deep South, began attracting Blues nightclubs as early as 1890. By 1899, Robert Church, the South’s first Black millionaire owned the majority of nightclubs and built the first entertainment park and music auditorium for African Americans on Beale Street. In 1908, Church hired the bandleader of his auditorium, W.C. Handy, to write the first composition and arrangement of the Blues. Handy called it Memphis Blues and introduced it both in the auditorium and Robert Church’s nightclubs.  With Church’s vision and money, plus Handy’s artistry and management of musicians, the best Blues artists trekked to Beale Street. Memphis flourished as the first widely identified “Home of the Blues” and W.C. Handy earned the title of "Father of the Blues".

    During this time the great Black northern migration was underway for more jobs and fewer social constraints, while yearning for the culture of home. Consequently, record companies sold millions of Blues records primarily to Black Southerners who migrated to northern cities. Observing this trend, Handy figured he could get in on the big money for recorded music. So he founded Black Swan Records in 1920. For a variety of reasons, the biggest being distribution and merchandising obstacles, Handy sold his recording label to Paramount Film Studios in 1924. Nevertheless, Beale Street remained a thriving Black district for nightlife over the next 35-40 years and Blues record sales ascended.

    In the early-1940s, a derivative of the Blues emerged. It was called, among other things, Jump Blues. Performed by large bands, it had a smattering of Gospel-tinged vocals backed by substantial instrumentals and a rhythmic beat that kept time for dancing, rather than time for other musicians like jazz. Louis Jordan deserves the most credit for making Jump Blues commercially successful in this timeframe. Jordan also deserves credit for coining the phrase "Rock n' Roll" in the context of a musical genre rather than a sexual context. By 1947, band sizes decreased due to higher labor expenses, post-war inflation and astute bandleaders discovering they could earn more money from records with smaller bands. By 1949 Billboard magazine coined the term Rhythm & Blues (or just "R&B") to better differentiate Jump Blues in the market.

    Memphis did not have the market cornered for early R&B artists, but it had more than its share of R&B artists who interchangeably performed as or with Blues artists on Beale Street.  Some of these artists were Memphis Minnie, Robert Johnson, Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton, B.B. King, Albert King, Muddy Waters, Big Boy Crudup, Howlin' Wolf, and Screaming Jay Hawkins.

    Pop music is not something social mores can keep from a diverse audience. Like bees attracted to honey, a young Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley would sneak into Beale Street nightclubs to hear the Blues and R&B—even though it was illegal for Whites to mingle in Negro establishments in the 1940s and early 50s.

    Blues and R&B artists were helped immeasurably by WDIA in 1948, the nation's first white-owned radio station to develop a Black-oriented music format. This groundbreaking Memphis radio station hired a Black DJ, Nat D. Williams, and let him spin music as he saw fit within the Blues and R&B formats. The radio station also hired B.B. King and Rufus Thomas as DJs before their careers as popular musical artists emerged. Blues artists, R&B artists and record owners prospered from this station whose 24-hour airwaves were amplified to cover most of three states.

    In 1950, Sam Phillips got in on the recording action by establishing white-owned Sun Studio in Memphis. Though race mixing in white establishments was strongly discouraged, Sam was about the money.  Rather than solely record White Rockabilly folk music like his competitors, Sam’s first recording was a Blues artist, Rufus Thomas, in 1951.  Sam also launched or propelled the recording careers of B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, and many other Blues and R&B artists by using his influence to get Sun Studio played on WDIA and dozens more southern radio stations. Sam deserves 'props for helping B.B. King and his lead guitar become the Commercial King of Blues. But the first nod to Blues should always be paid in front of the Robert Church and W.C. Handy Statue on Beale Street.