Really the 'Walking Blues': Son House, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson and the Development of a Traditional Blues Author(s): John Cowley Source: Popular Music, Vol. 1, Folk or Popular? Distinctions, Influences, Continuities (1981), pp. 57-72 Published by: Cambridge University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/853243 Accessed: 05-11-2017 07:04 UTC JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms Cambridge University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Popular Music This content downloaded from 204.147.202.25 on Sun, 05 Nov 2017 07:04:07 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Really the 'Walking Blues': Son House, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson and the development of a traditional blues by JOHN COWLEY On the surface, a study of the evolution of a particular regional Afro- American folk-music style does not appear to be directly connected with the development of popular music. Yet, in one way or another since the 1930s, Son House, Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters, aspects of whose music I discuss here, have all influenced both the development of black blues and, in a much wider context, American and European popular music in general.