"Down the Dirt Road Blues". Native American blues beginnings

Abstract

“The whole blues pulsation is similar to the beating of our drums,” says E. Bomberry of the Anishinabe and Kajuga peoples. “There are things about the blues that tell me that someone knew the stomp dance, practiced by the Native peoples of the Southeast before European contact,” suggests Cherokee researcher R. Welburn. The aim of rethinking the history of the blues is not a new form of cultural appropriation but rather an awareness of the multiplicity and diversity of its sources. My main intention is to ensure that the contribution of the North American Native American cultures is considered when studying the emergence and formation of the blues.