The first blues songs were called Delta blues . White audiences ' interest in the blues during the 1960s increased due to the Chicago-based Paul Butterfield Blues Band and the British blues movement . The style of British blues developed in the UK , when bands such as The Animals , Fleetwood Mac , John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers , The Rolling Stones , The Yardbirds , and Cream and Irish musician Rory Gallagher performed classic blues songs from the Delta or Chicago blues traditions .