Genres: Blues

Celebrate the modern blues scene and keep the blues alive with this mix of strict traditionalists and artists who are willing to bring a more modern touch to (arguably) America's greatest musical export.

Essential songs born out of 1950s Chicago blues. Influenced by the rural, Delta Blues, Chicago's bluesman introduced amplification and electric instruments into the genre which led to the birth of rock 'n roll.

Dating back to 1930s, these are some of the earliest recordings of blues music. Though it had humble beginnings, the blues music of the Mississippi Delta paved the way for rock & roll.

This playlist includes all of the early Texas blues pioneers, some of whom were the first to play the blues with an electric guitar.

Classic in-concert moments from blues kings and queens, from the Mississippi Delta (Johnny Shines) to the Windy City (Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf), and beyond.

Like the blues music they're grounded in, The Black Keys possess both timelessness and staying power. Listen to the greatest songs from their influences -- including band favorites -- as well as those from their contemporaries and side projects.

A retrospective of Chicago's legendary Chess Records, America's greatest blues label. Chess was the home of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Etta James, Little Walter, and many more.

The British blues boom, from its purist mid-'60s beginnings to the early '70s, when a new breed of bands brought a harder edge to England's take on U.S. blues and R&B.

When the midnight hour comes, the blues turns its attention to love lost, love won, and everything in between. From vintage acoustic Delta blues to swaggering modern electric blues rock, hear the blues after midnight.

Celebrate the release of Jack White's new album Blunderbuss (http://bit.ly/Io5JGE) with this playlist, featuring the best of the White Stripes, his side projects, artists on his Third Man Records label, and other collaborations.

Classic female blues singers from the 1920s through the '50s, from the lowdown dirty Beale Street blues to the sanctified gospel of the storefront churches.

With the onset of Prohibition, the country went dry and the party moved underground. Revisit American pop music's salad days, when ragtime was morphing into dixieland jazz and the first recordings of rural blues were being heard in major cities.

Long before the blues went electric and urban, these rural pioneers were laying down the foundations of the genre, usually with no more than a voice and acoustic guitar.