On the topic of joyful blues, I think it was Mississippi John Hurt who said:

These young folks playing the blues now sound like they're trying *get* the blues. We was trying to get *rid* of them.

You can certainly hear that attitude at work in many of his songs, like "Talk about trouble, had it all my days" The lyrics say it's a rough life, but the music says it's not gonna get him down.

Mind you, he also wrote the saddest song I've ever heard in my life; "Nobody cares for me" Not even Hank Williams or George Jones ever equalled that song for sheer wallowing in sorrow.