Memphis blues

Memphis blues is an early style of blues music that developed in Memphis, Tennessee in the early twentieth century, characterized by a looser, more improvisational feel than the later Chicago blues and often featuring jug bands, piano, and acoustic instruments.

The style bridged rural Delta blues and urban commercial recordings: W.C. Handy's "Memphis Blues" helped popularize the genre nationwide.

Memphis remained a blues center for decades, later producing electric blues and soul.