Chicago Neighborhoods

Episode Three: The Times They are A-Changin’ traces the continuing emergence of American roots music through a national awareness catalyzed by the folk and blues revivals. Gospel music’s golden years are explored in this episode, from the Golden Gate Quartet to Rosetta Tharpe, Mahalia Jackson, and the crossover success of the Staple Singers. Urban migration from the Mississippi Delta to Chicago fosters the electrification of the blues, producing such giants as Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. During this period, folk music and the blues become intertwined with youth culture and social and political causes like the Civil Rights and anti-war movements. The Newport Folk Festival presents a mixture of traditional blues, gospel and country artists with popular “folk” and protest singers of the time. Blues bands integrate and begin playing for integrated audiences, and Bob Dylan, the most prolific singer/songwriter of the generation, goes electric, causing quite a stir in the “folk” community. Commentary in this episode is provided by Mavis Staples, Bonnie Raitt, Peter Yarrow, Pete Seeger, John Sebastian, Keith Richards, James Cotton and BB King among many others.
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Charles Edward Anderson “Chuck” Berry (born October 18, 1926) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of the rock and roll music. With songs such as “Maybellene” (1955), “Roll Over Beethoven” (1956), “Rock and Roll Music” (1957) “Johnny B. Goode” (1958), and “My Ding-a-Ling” (1972). Chuck Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive, with lyrics focusing on teen life and consumerism and utilizing guitar solos and showmanship that would be a major influence on subsequent rock music. Born into a middle class family in St. Louis, Missouri, Berry had an interest in music from an early age and gave his first public performance at Sumner High School. While still a high school student he served a prison sentence for armed robbery between 1944 and 1947. On his release, Berry settled into married life and worked at an automobile assembly plant. By early 1953, influenced by the guitar riffs and showmanship techniques of blues player T-Bone Walker, he was performing in the evenings with the Johnnie Johnson Trio. His break came when he traveled to Chicago in May 1955, and met Muddy Waters, who suggested he contact Leonard Chess of Chess Records. With Chess he recorded “Maybellene”—Berry’s adaptation of the country song “Ida Red”—which sold over a million copies, reaching #1 on Billboard’s Rhythm and Blues chart. By the end of the 1950s, Berry was an established star with several hit records …
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