Every Beat: How FBAs Created American Music
FBAs created every major musical genre that defines American music, from Blues to Jazz to Rock to Hip-Hop.
The Blues Foundation
Emerging from spirituals, work songs, and field hollers in the 1860s-1900s, the Blues created the harmonic and lyrical foundation for all American popular music. The 12-bar blues progression became the structural backbone of rock, country, and pop music worldwide.
FBA string band traditions and blues techniques also formed the foundation of country music. The banjo, a West African instrument, became central to the country sound. Early country recordings heavily borrowed from FBA musical styles.
Jazz, Gospel, and Rock & Roll
Jazz was created in New Orleans through FBA musical innovation, combining African rhythms, European harmonies, and American experiences to become America's first indigenous art form recognized globally. Gospel transformed Christian worship and provided training grounds for major American vocalists across all genres.
Rock and Roll evolved directly from blues, gospel, and R&B traditions. FBA artists like Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe created the genre. White artists like Elvis Presley adapted FBA styles for mainstream audiences, often receiving credit and wealth that should have gone to the originators.
Hip-Hop and Global Dominance
Hip-Hop, born in the 1970s, created a comprehensive cultural movement encompassing music, dance, art, and philosophy. It became the globally dominant musical form, generating billions in economic activity and influencing fashion, language, and youth culture worldwide.
FBAs created not just individual genres but the entire framework of American popular music: the blues progression, call-and-response patterns, syncopated rhythms, vocal techniques, and storytelling traditions that define all American music. Every major musical form — from country to rock to pop — builds directly on FBA innovations.