Who were the early players of electric minor blues?

I'll leave this one to Martin, Conch and Kman. They're a deep well of historical knowledge.

I didn't know what minor scales were until later so I suppose the first I heard was Elmore James.

The first few I can think of are:

T- Bone Walker

Elmore James

Jimmy Rogers (Muddy's background guitaist).

Robert Johnson? Muddy Waters?

The "the blues" refers to the "the blue devils", meaning melancholy and sadness; an early use of the term in this sense is found in George Colman's one-act farce Blue Devils (1798 Though the use of the phrase in African American music may be older,since 1912, when Hart Wand's "Dallas Blues" became the first copyrighted blues composition. After World War II and in the 1950s, new styles of electric blues music became popular in cities such as Chicago,[82] Memphis,[83] Detroit[84][85] and St. Louis.[86] Electric blues used amplified electric guitars, double bass which was progressively replaced by bass guitar, drums, and harmonica played through a microphone and a PA system or a guitar amplifier. Chicago became a center for electric blues from 1948 on, when Muddy Waters recorded his first success: "I Can't Be Satisfied".[87] Chicago blues is influenced to a large extent by the Mississippi blues style, because many performers had migrated from the Mississippi region. Howlin' Wolf,[88] Muddy Waters,[89] Willie Dixon,[90] and Jimmy Reed[91] were all born in Mississippi and moved to Chicago during the Great Migration. Their style is characterized by the use of electric guitar, sometimes slide guitar, harmonica, and a rhythm section of bass and drums. J. T. Brown who played in Elmore James's bands,[92] or J. B. Lenoir's[93] also used saxophones, but these were used more as "backing" or rhythmic support than as solo instruments.

Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson are well known harmonica blues musicians players of the early Chicago blues scene. Other harp players such as Big Walter Horton were also influential. Muddy Waters and Elmore James were known for their innovative use of slide electric guitar. Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters were known for their deep, "gravelly" voices.....Bluesmen such as Big Bill Broonzy and Willie Dixon started looking for new markets in Europe. Dick Waterman and the blues festivals he organized in Europe played a major role in blues music abroad. In the UK, bands emulated US blues legends, and UK blues-rock-based bands had an influential role throughout the 1960s The style of British blues developed in the UK, when bands such as The Animals, Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, and Cream and Irish musician Rory Gallagher performed classic blues songs from the Delta or Chicago blues traditions...hope this helps