The Story of the Blues is a studio album by American singer Della Reese.

Along with Reese's input, Oliver envisioned the album to chronologically tell the story of the genre through blues songs and spoken word narration.

[1] The Story of the Blues was released in 1959 by Jubilee Records and was the third studio album in Reese's career.

[4] Author Wal Friedwalkd found the album to be "the most ambitious of Reese's early projects" and theorized that its use of spoken word foreshadowed her career as an actress.

[1] American Record Guide found it to be "one of the greatest albums ever produced .... telescoping 100 years of musical history into minutes, milestoning from the start of the blues to now.