Most performers were solo male vocalists accompanying themselves on guitar. The Mississippi delta was a region of great poverty, so the early bluesmen typically used inexpensive or homemade instruments such as cigar box guitars. Vocals were delivered in raw, plaintive style with great emotion.
Country Delta Blues is most typically acoustic music, frequently played in the key of E or A. It can feature extensive use of 7th chords, drone notes, bass runs and minor pentatonic scales.
The solo guitar is the most prominent instrument in Country Delta Blues. It is often played fingerstyle and with a slide using open tunings in a rough, percussive manner. The guitarists usually provide accompaniment with fragmentary fills and droning open strings rather than full chords. Instrumental solos are rare.