Reddit mentions of The History Of The Blues: The Roots, The Music, The People

I have a goal similar to yours, I started with the blues but now I've gone in so many different directions I've become overwhelmed with all the music that I want to hear. The Blues is a great place to start because it influenced all of 20th century American music, it also shares a lot of the same roots with jazz and country as well so don't be surprised if you get side tracked from your goal, there's just an insane amount of good tunes out there waiting to be discovered.

Here's a really good book on the blues that gives a clear-eyed historical overview.

A few Blues artists I started with: Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Elmore James (I still haven't dug into the earliest recorded blues)

If you want to hear early rock I would check out: Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bo Diddley, Carl Perkins, Johhny Cash (Sun recordings) and Little Richard

I know you are looking more into blues and rock but you should also plan to listen to the Carter Family and Hank Williams, extremely instrumental in shaping the future of music.