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Paul Oliver, in his publication, the Story of the blues, points to Edisto Island, South Carolina to the first printed reference of the phrase "the blues." He references a December 14, 1862 entry in the diary of Charlotte Forten, a free African-American teacher. "Nearly everybody was looking gay and happy, yet I cam home with the blues." In the classic, A Diary From Dixie, Mary Boykin Chestnut also uses the blues to refer to her mood while visiting Charleston on the eve of the Civil War. The field holler has roots in the slavery era, but that type has persisted well into this century. In 1853, Frederick Olmstead observed a gang of slaves who had been hired out to a railroad company: "One raised such a sound as I had never heard before, a long loud musical shout, rising and falling, and breaking into falsetto, his voice ringing through the woods in the clear, frosty night air, like a bugle call. As he finished the melody was caught up by another and then another, then several in a chorus."

Numerous efforts have been made to preserve some of this African rooted music. Efforts were underway by The Society for the Preservation of Spirituals in Charleston as early as 1923, to preserve the unique spiritual music of the African Americans who lived along the coast of South Carolina from the Santee River Delta to Beaufort. In 1934, Julia Peterkin in Roll, Jordan, Roll wrote concerning spirituals along the Santee Delta: "the origin of the old Negro spirituals is tightly bound up with the history of the Negroes who were brought as slaves to America, for their songs came out of a longing for relief from misfortune and are the fruit of slave hopes and pain."

Certainly, the misfortune and tragic situations of free Blacks during Reconstruction led to a musical genre called "the blues." Coastal Carolina University folklorist/historian Charles Joyner’s 1971 book, "Folk Song in South Carolina makes a good observation: "The Europeans brought their traditional English and Scottish ballads as early as 1670 along with Africans who carried the circle dance across the Atlantic which is now preserved in several forms including shout (or ring shout) spirituals and the direct imposition of sacred texts on secular forms."

One of these secular forms is blues, which uses African rhythm and European instruments. One of the earliest blues songs with the word "blues" in it is Memphis Blues (1912) by African American composer W.C. Handy, who also wrote St. Louis Blues and Basin Street Blues between 1911-1914.

Blues music in South Carolina has deep roots. Several songs collected by Robert Duncan Bass were published in the Journal of American Folklore in 1919. Among these are variants of Hesitation Blues, which evolved into Old Time Blues, and even rock and roll versions. Bass documented numerous Hesitation Blues stanzas from African Americans living along the Pee Dee River in lower Marion County, not far from the Santee Delta, with the usual "how long" refrain. Music of the Santee Delta traveled inland along the state’s network of rivers and influenced the blues music of the Piedmont textile towns such as Greenville, Spartanburg and Cheraw. As further evidence of the historical importance of South Carolina on traditional American music, Word of Mouth Productions includes a list of artists with ties to the Palmetto State.

Pinkney "Pink" Anderson – born February 12, 1900, Laurens, SC. For much of his life, Anderson was Spartanburg’s most famous songster and medicine show huckster. In 1917, he joined Doctor W. R. Kerr’s Medicine Show, learning every facet of the calling and staying, with Peg Leg Sam as his straight man, until it ceased in 1945. Pink Anderson eventually teamed up with Baby Tate and together, they continued working medicine shows until he retired in 1957. In 1928, he and Blind Simmie Dooley recorded together for Columbia in Atlanta and in 1961, he recorded three albums for Bluesville, each with a theme: blues, medicine show songs and folk ballads. Samuel Charters, legendary blues historian, said, "In Pink Anderson’s blues, there is the melancholy and sadness of Carolina blues at their best."

Ted Bogan – born May 10, 1910, Spartanburg, SC. A bassist and guitarist who played with Carl Martin and Les Paul, among others.

Napoleon "Nappy" Brown – born October 12, 1929, Charlotte, NC. Nappy now lives in Pomaria, SC. Bown is a revered blues shouter who began in gospel but became famous writing Night Time is the Right Time and Lemon Squeezin’ Daddy among others and still performs using his gospel-steeped, deeply resounding voice and wild stage antics.

Julius Daniels – born 1902, Denmark, SC. A guitarist and singer, Daniels was one of the first black artists in the Southeastern states to record. Although he only made a few records, the music he left behind embraced blues, sacred music and even songs similar to the white country music of the day. All were accompanied by light, melodic picking. John Jacob Niles and Jorma Kaukonen have made sure his name is not forgotten.

Rev. Gary Davis – born April 30, 1896, Laurens, SC. A highly accomplished guitarist and songwriter, Davis taught himself harmonica at the age of five, banjo at six, and guitar at seven. He recorded for a number of labels including ARC, Stinson, Riverside, Prestige-Blueville and Folkways. Among Davis’ devotees are Bob Dylan, Stefan Grossman, Taj Mahal, Ry Cooder, Roy Book Binder and Jorma Kaukonen. His importance in the history of rural black music cannot by overstated. Davis is one of SC’s most revered bluesmen. He blurred the transition between blues and religious/spiritual/gospel music.

Thomas Henry "Tom" Delaney – born September 14, 1889, Charleston, SC. Pianist and singer of not-so-famous, mysteriously entitled songs such as Cootie for Your Tootie and Hard Boiled Papa, Delaney began his career as a child in Jenkins Orphanage by forming the Springfield Minstrels. From those inauspicious beginnings, he moved on to bigger stints. One was managing Ethel Water’s career.

Joseph Benjamin "JB" Hutto – born April 26, 1926, Elko, SC. His 1954 recordings for the Chance label are now considered to be classics of postwar blues. Hutto’s music was raunchy, electric slide guitar blues that found great favor among young white blues enthusiasts. He recorded for many labels including Vanguard, Testament, Delmark, JSP, Amigo, Wolf, Baron, Black and Blue, and Varrick.

Arthur "Peg Leg Sam" Jackson – born December 18, 1911, Jonesville, SC. Jackson learned the harmonica while a child, left home in his teens and spent most of his life traveling and playing the blues. He lost the lower part of his right leg during his hobo days in a train accident. In the mid ‘30s, he began on the medicine show circuit, especially Chief Thunderbird’s, and was one of the last medicine show minstrels, working them until the early 1960s. He was first recorded in 1970, in the company of Baby Tate and Pink Anderson.

Ella Johnson – born June 22, 1923, Darlington, SC. Moved to New York in 1937 and sang lues and early rock and roll until the early ‘60s at which time she turned her energies back to the church. Her brother, Woodrow Wilson "Buddy" Johnson, was also in music as a pianist and band leader.

Henry Johnson – born December 8, 1908, Union, SC. Johnson learned guitar and piano in childhood and performed gospel and "the Devil’s Music" on radio broadcasts in the 1930s. He appeared on two albums exhibiting a strong, distinctive singing voice and powerful guitar style, especially when playing bottleneck.

Josephine "Josie" Miles – born circa 1900, Summerville, SC. One of the Black Swan Troubadours, she appeared in touring companies of Shuffle Along and Runnin’ Wild before leaving blues and vaudeville to return to the church. She was reportedly killed in an automobile accident.

Sammie "Ironing Board Sam" Moore – born 1939, Rockfield, SC. Sam learned to play the organ as a youngster, concentrating on gospel music, then boogie-woogie, before turning to the blues. His live sets are described as very intense and his stage antics as humorous. His music was featured on several labels including Holiday Inn, Atlantic, Styletone and Broad.

Douglas Elijah Quattlebaum – born January 22, 1927, Florence, SC. During the 1940s, Quattlebaum toured with a number of gospel groups, such as the Bells of Joy. In 1952, he recorded solo as a blues singer for the Gotham label. He was a forceful singer and guitarist, having been influenced by Blind Boy Fuller. In 1961, he was rediscovered in Philadelphia, singing and playing blues over the public address system of his ice-cream van, hence the title of his last recording, Softee Man Blues.

Clarence Clifford "CC/Peg" Richardson – born December 18, 1918, Sumter, SC. Richardson got his foot in the blues doorway by performing in his uncle’s quartet in Brown Chapel Church in Sumter, SC. Sadly, he lost part of one foot in a train accident as a child. He performed in bands with such notable leaders as Jay McShann and Nat Cole and claimed to be influenced most by Blind Boy Fuller.

Clara "Violet Green" Smith – born circa 1894, Spartanburg, SC. This singer and pianist of vaudeville tent show fame was also known as the "Queen of the Moaners."

Charles Henry "Baby" Tate – born January 28, 1916, Elberton, Georgia; died August 17, 1972, Columbia, SC. Tate moved to Greenville, SC at the age of ten and took up with Blind Boy Fuller. He learned guitar, and his music developed along similar lines as Fuller’s, in a distinctively Southeastern style. He partnered with Pink Anderson for several years and this connection led to Tate making an album in 1962, in which he demonstrated a wide, traditional repertoire. He recorded again, ten years later, with harmonica player Peg Leg Sam.

Willie Walker – born 1896, SC; died 1933, Greenville, SC. Blind from birth, Walker worked only as a musician and was playing guitar in a string band with Rev. Gary Davis by 1911 and was considered by Josh White to be the best guitarist he ever heard. He had his own successful recording career and in 1930, Walker released two recordings of South Carolina Rag, but he considered recording to have little merit. He was a strong singer, but it was his guitar that immediately astonishes – lightening fast, but impeccably clear. Six decades later, musicians are still in awe over Willie Walker’s guitar picking. He is considered one of the best of SC’s musicians.

Joshua Daniel "Josh" aka "Pinewood Tom" White and "the Singing Christian" – born February 11, 1915, Greenville, SC. A grounding in church music stood Josh White in good stead, as it ws something to which he returned at various points in his long career as a blues singer and later, folk entertainer. His father was a preacher, so he sang gospel, but peppered his career with secular blues under alternate names, with songs such as Sissy Man Blues. He also performed topical songs of protest nature such as Silicosis Blues and Jim Crow Train. He toured overseas in the postwar years and recorded extensively from 1932 until his death in 1969.

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