Modern Blues
Also known as Contemporary Blues, Modern Electric Blues
A contemporary blues tag for music that keeps the genre’s emotional core but updates the sound with electric muscle, polished production, and cross-genre touches.
Origins and context
AllMusic places Modern Blues within the blues tradition that grew out of African spirituals and work songs in the United States, later taking on electric forms and modern studio polish.
History
AllMusic treats Modern Blues as a current blues style sitting within the broader modern electric-blues family, alongside contemporary blues. In that framing, it gathers artists who carry older blues language into newer studio settings and live arrangements, with players such as Curtis Salgado, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Robben Ford, Christone "Kingfish" Ingram, and Susan Tedeschi appearing in the style’s orbit. The wider blues tradition grew out of African spirituals and work songs and developed through Black musical life in the United States, then shifted decisively into electric forms after World War II. By the 1990s and beyond, artists like Robert Cray and Keb’ Mo’ were bringing the music forward with polished production, while still drawing on Delta, Chicago, soul, and roots-blues vocabularies.
Notable artists
- GCGary Clark Jr.
- STSusan Tedeschi
- KMKeb' Mo'
- RCRobert Cray
- TTTedeschi Trucks Band
Essential listening
- 1
Gary Clark Jr.
- 2
Susan Tedeschi
- 3
Keb' Mo'
- 4
Explore connected genres
Sources and further reading
- AllMusic: Modern Blues
- AllMusic: Blues
- Apple Music
Apple Music describes Robert Cray as having renewed the American blues tradition in the 1980s and 1990s with pared-down pop hooks and storytelling.
- Apple Music
Apple Music describes Keb’ Mo’ as emerging on the 1990s blues scene and blending old and new influences.
- garyclarkjr.com
Gary Clark Jr.’s official and streaming artist pages place him in a modern blues/blues-rock continuum and note crossover work such as the 2017 cover of "Come Together."
- AllMusic: Contemporary Blues