One of the biggest misconceptions about blues music is that the genre is all about doom and gloom. Naturally, many blues songs feature lyrics about being down in the dumps, love lost, and heartbreak.

The blues was the genre of the decade back in the 1950s, and plenty of young people that decade couldn’t get enough of it. But if you were born a bit later, you might have missed the blues boom ...

Bessie Smith, known as the “Empress of the Blues,” was a trailblazer in the world of blues music. Born in 1894 in Tennessee, Bessie began her career as a street performer before rising to fame in the ...