Before the 1970s, there weren't any state festivals where you could listen to blues music, and if you were white, you weren't supposed to go to the places where blues musicians would play. Most musicians would play in front of tobacco factories or in people's houses, but the people who listened to them were usually black. That's because after the end of the Civil War, North Carolina set up some laws, called Jim Crow laws, that kept blacks and whites separated. In the 1950s, the Supreme Court began ruling that these laws were unconstitutional, and that started the Civil Rights Movement.

If you're not sure whether or not you might like Piedmont blues, listen to some of the clips in "Hear the Difference." You can also experiment with playing some blues yourself in clicking the keyboard below - You will need to have a Flash Player to play the blues.

Click on the piano

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