The document summarizes the origins and characteristics of blues music that developed after the emancipation of slaves in the American South. It notes that blues flourished in the post-emancipation period, featuring a solo guitarist and singer. The blues utilized a simple portable instrumental setup of guitar and harmonica to allow transient artists to perform. The standard blues form that developed involved a 12-bar structure consisting of 3 lines over 4 bars each, using dominant 7th chords and a repetitive I-IV-V chord progression. Blues lyrics reflected the new social conditions of hardship, relationships, and sexuality in a standardized English language.