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Why did this city became such a haven for the blues?
As America grew in the 20th century, Chicago became one of the largest cities, and with it offered some of the best job opportunities for un-educated workers. African-americans in the Mississippi Delta migrated north to the Chicago area for jobs in steel plants, stock yards, and transportation industries. Their music made the trip with them.
With time and technology, the music evolved in the small bars and clubs, on the streets and in markets, and in rent parties (where people would get a Blues band to play at their home and charge an admission fee to revelers to help pay rent). The numbers of musicians, in such high concentrations, spurred the competition it takes to create a new genre.
Cultural and racial separation created segregated enclaves in the city, and this is where artists found a mass market. Instead of playing in rural juke joints miles apart, musicians could find work in a relatively small area.
As the music morphed and became commercially viable, record companies followed to capture the groove. This took Chicago Blues from the parties and local bars into homes and juke boxes around the world. What the world heard was music celebrating life in Chicago, with all it's good and bad.
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