The blues, the folk music of former enslaved Africans in the U.S. South and their descendants, heavily influenced by West African cultural and musical traditions, that evolved as black musicians migrated to the cities. The blues resonates throughout much of American and Western popular music, with echoes in ragtime, jazz, bluegrass, R&B, rock and roll, hip-hop, country music, and conventional pop songs.
The blues is a state of mind that is often used in lyrics to describe a depressed mood. The blues are often expressed musically through guitar, harmonica and/or voice. Those in the blues' state of mind include Muddy Waters