Editing W. C. Handy (section)

=== Development of the blues style ===
In 1902, Handy traveled throughout Mississippi, listening to various styles of popular black music. The state was mostly rural and music was part of the culture, especially in cotton [[plantations in the American South|plantations]] in the Mississippi Delta. Musicians usually played guitar or banjo or, to a much lesser extent, piano. Handy's remarkable memory enabled him to recall and transcribe the music he heard in his travels.

After a dispute with AAMC President Councill, Handy resigned his teaching position to return to the Mahara Minstrels and tour the Midwest and Pacific Northwest. In 1903, he became the director of a black band organized by the [[Knights of Pythias of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia]] in [[Clarksdale, Mississippi]].<ref name=":0" /> Handy and his family lived there for six years. During this time, he had several formative experiences that he later recalled as influential in his developing musical style. In 1903, while waiting for a train in Tutwiler, Mississippi in the Mississippi Delta, Handy overheard a black man playing a [[steel guitar]] using a knife as a [[Steel bar|slide]].<ref name="William Christopher Handy page 74">Handy (1941), p. 74.</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110604093840/http://www.triplethreatbluesband.com/wchandy.htm "Waiting for the Train at Tutwiler"], Triple Threat Blues Band. Archived June 4, 2011.</ref>

About 1905, while playing a dance in [[Cleveland, Mississippi]], Handy was given a note asking for "our native music".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM3633|title=Delta Blues Inspires W.C. Handy – Cleveland, Mississippi – Mississippi Historical Markers on Waymarking.com|website=Waymarking.com|date=February 16, 2008|access-date=January 22, 2018}}</ref> He played an old-time Southern melody but was asked if a local colored band could play a few numbers. Handy assented, and three young men with well-worn instruments began to play.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite book |last1=Handy |first1=W. C. |title=Father of the Blues: An Autobiography |date=1991|publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=978-0-306-80421-2 |pages=76–77}}</ref><ref name="Scarborough">{{cite book |last1=Scarborough |first1=Dorothy |last2=Gulledge |first2=Ola Lee |title=On the Trail of Negro Folk-Songs |url=https://archive.org/details/ontrailofnegrofo00scar |date=1925 |publisher=Harvard University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/ontrailofnegrofo00scar/page/269 269] |quote=In recounting the same story to Dorothy Scarborough about 1925, Handy remembered a banjo, guitar, and fiddle.}}</ref> Research by Elliott Hurwitt for the [[Mississippi Blues Trail]] identified the leader of the band in Cleveland as [[Prince McCoy]].<ref name="trail">[http://www.msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/prince-mccoy "Prince McCoy", ''Mississippi Blues Trail'']. Retrieved May 21, 2019</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gurrow|first=Adam|date=Winter 2018|title=W. C. Handy and the "birth" of the Blues|journal=Southern Cultures|volume=24|issue=4|pages=42–68|doi=10.1353/scu.2018.0045|s2cid=150008950}}</ref> In his autobiography, Handy described the music they played:

{{blockquote|They struck up one of those over and over strains that seem to have no beginning and certainly no ending at all. The strumming attained a disturbing monotony, but on and on it went, a kind of stuff associated with [sugar] cane rows and levee camps. Thump-thump-thump went their feet on the floor. It was not really annoying or unpleasant. Perhaps "haunting" is the better word.<ref name="ReferenceA" /><ref>Crawford, Richard (2001). ''America's Musical Life: A History''. New York: W. W. Norton. pp. 536, 537.</ref>}}

Handy also took influence from the square dances held by Mississippi blacks, which typically had music in the [[G major]] key. In particular, he picked the same key for his 1914 hit, "[[Saint Louis Blues (song)|Saint Louis Blues]]".<ref>Handy (1941). p. 85.</ref><ref>Handy (1941). p. 119.</ref>