First of all, the slaves weren't singing "Deep Blues" yet. That style wouldn't develop for a few decades. Within earshot of the slaveowner families, the slaves engaged in what are called Field Hollers, which were rhythmic chants, often call and response style, that kept the work at a steady pace and passed the time. In "12 Years A Slave," he writes that punishment was doled out to those who didn't produce enough, but also to those who produced too much, because presumably the could have produced that much previously, and had been slacking. Field Hollers would have helped keep things at a steady rate, day after day. The closest things we have to documentation of Field Hollers are Allen Lomax's recordings from the 30s, several decades after the Civil War, but they are probably pretty much the same.

The slave owners had no interest in this "music." In the days before radio and recordings, the only way of disseminating music was through printed music in the forms of sheet music and books, and the most widely available books of music were hymn books, or hymnals. In particularly religious households, those hymnals were likely the only source of music. Performances were by the family members themselves, with piano accompaniments by musical members of the family, especially the girls. Sometimes other members of the family would also play other instruments, especially violin or flute.

If a family allowed secular music, things got more interesting. There were songs by popular songwriters (Stephen Foster was the Beatles of his time) in sheet music form. Sales of sheet music were the way popular music was judged at the time, the way sales of CDs or downloads are tallied today. If someone from the household went into the city on a buying trip, they might bring home some new sheet music.

In addition to hymns and popular music, there was an enormous unwritten musical tradition. Unwritten folk songs would be passed down from grandparents and parents. There were also dance tunes and popular regional songs that weren't written down, and were passed from musician to musician. A fine young lady of repute from a good family would have little opportunity to interact with the sort of itinerant musicians who would be passing these tunes from one to another, but besides the young women of the family, there might be a slave or two who had musical abilities, and they might be called upon to perform for the family. Often these slaves were hired out to other plantations where they might meet with other musicians and pick up some new material, which they could teach to their mistresses at home. Also, there would be dances and social gatherings in town, and a good musician could memorize some of the songs they heard from the musicians on the bandstand, and re-create them back home.

Also available to the family musician was classical music from Europe (America's classical tradition was starting slowly in the early to mid 19th century). Of course there was piano and chamber music by the major classical names, but it was also very common for large orchestral works to be transcribed for piano. There were very few professional orchestras in pre-Civil War America, so many people knew the symphonies of Beethoven, Mozart, and other classical superstars only through these very popular transcriptions.

So in the days before recordings, radio, and television, the family would gather most nights after dinner and the daughters, wives, sisters, and even some of the sons would present an informal recital, playing and singing a wide range of requests from a variety of styles, on a variety of instruments, which almost certainly would have included all joining in on some rousing hymns. There would certainly have been some favorites that got played nearly every night, just like we like to listen to the same recordings over and over. Families would have had their favorite styles, with one family leaning harder on the hymns, others on the popular tunes, and others on the classical stuff. There would have been regional differences as well. Plantation owners with a British ancestry in Virgina would have had different musical tastes and traditions than plantation owners of French ancestry in Louisiana, for instance, with some overlap, such as European classical music or national hits by Stephen Foster.

This sort of genteel family recital helps explain why blues, ragtime, and jazz were initially considered such uncultured forms of music. The blues and its cousins evolved primarily in juke joints, taverns, and brothels, where liquor and sin flowed freely. Given the context of the civilized family celebrating cultured music over tea and lemonade, it is easy to see why the family matriarch would be offended by the music, and even the instruments, spawned by such establishments of ill-repute.