How Blues Got Its Start In DC

D.C. is iconic for Go-Go, legends like Marvin Gaye and Duke Ellington, and hardcore groups like Bad Brains and Fugazi. But most people don’t know about the city’s influence on Blues music.

District Blues Revival

Blues got its start in D.C. when Washingtonian musicologist and legendary WAMU host Dick Spottswood became obsessed with a little-known blues artist named Mississippi John Hurt. Most assumed Hurt was dead, but using a lyrical clue from the track “Avalon Blues” and an atlas from the 1890’s, Spottswood found him in a small town called Avalon, Mississippi, where he worked as a sharecropper.

Hurt accompanied Spottswood back to D.C., where, at 69, his music career took off. Hurt recorded at the Library of Congress, played the Newport Folk Festival, and even appeared on the Tonight Show.

Blues Barbershop

After Hurt’s music took off, Archie Edwards, a barber and bluesman opened his own barbershop, which became a meeting place for D.C. musicians, including Hurt. Hurt and Edwards would often perform for customers as they got their haircuts.

Hurt and Edward’s success rubbed off on other local musicians, and a bustling scene was born. Labels like Adelphi Records and Piedmont Records were created to promote the city’s newfound love for blues. D.C. acts frequented local clubs, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, and even toured Europe.

Learn and Listen

You can visit the Archie Edwards Blues Heritage Museum in Hyattsville, Maryland. Their collection includes rare writings from Mississippi John Hurt, as well as relics from the barbershop. They also host music classes and bi-weekly Blues jams, continuing the tradition that started in the barbershop in 1959.