Search - Various Artists :: Tin Pan Alley Blues 1916

Prior to 1912, there had only been a handful of compositions with "blues" in the title. Songs like "The Richmond Blues" were actually marches and 'blue' was merely the color of a uniform. The first so-called 'blues' was "Baby Seals Blues," which appeared in St.Louis on August 3, 1912. The next, "Dallas Blues," was published in Oklahoma City on September 6, 1912. The third published blues song was Handy's "Memphis Blues," published in Memphis on September 28, 1912. After W.C.Handy's publication of the "St.Louis Blues" in 1914, the whole world wend 'blues crazy.' The era of "Tin Pan Alley Blues" was born. New York City's Tin Pan Alley was the center for hundreds of publishing companies and songwriters looking to jump on the blues bandwagon. Just about every composer of the day, including W.C.Handy, Irving Berlin, Clarence Williams and George Gershwin, was looking for the next 'blues hit.' Over the next year, almost every town in the South was endowed with its ow! n private blues. By 1915, composers were tagging the word 'blues' to every conceivable subject, from the "Boll Weevil Blues" to "Chinese Blues" and everything in between. The first wave of the blues was born.