The vast spreading popularity of blues and blues byproducts among White listeners in the 50s and 60s is no surprise to the student of folk music. Although late in coming, it was only one of many steps in the blending of West African music idioms with Western and European music begun in the 17th century.

In earlier years, the "blues" qualities of spirituals and recorded African-American blues had been strongly attractive to popular song writers, but the pop song of 1920-40 was still shackled by the weight of ballad-like "messages." lt was still to be realized that in the airy spaces of the blues, a singer could be free to concentrate on ...