Topic: The Land Where Blues Began Link to 58min movie

[GavinG]

Was not sure where to post this, so I put 'er here.


http://www.folkstreams.net/film,109

I came across this movie. thought I'd share this

The Land Where Blues Began

58 mins....pretty cool I think.


A self-described "song-hunter," the folklorist Alan Lomax traveled the Mississippi Delta in the 1930s and 40s, sometimes in the company of black folklorists like John W. Work III, armed with primitive recording equipment and a keen love of the Delta's music heritage. Crisscrossing the towns and hamlets where the blues began, Lomax gave voice to such greats as Leadbelly, Fred McDowell, Muddy Waters, and many others, all of whom made their debut recordings with him.

In the late 1970s Lomax returned with filmmaker John Bishop and black folklorist Worth Long and made the film The Land Where the Blues Began. Shot on video tape, the film is narrated by Lomax and includes remarkable performances and stories by J.T. Tucker, William S. Hart, Bill Gordon, Belton Sutherland, Reverend Caeser Smith, James Hall, Johnny Brooks, Clyde Maxwell, Bud Spires, Jack Owens, Beatrice Maxwell, Walter Brown, Wilbert Puckett, and Othar Turner (see Gravel Springs Fife and Drum also on RL Burnside www.folkstreams.net).

[jpeters609]

This is a very fine documentary with a lot of great music. It should be noted that a new DVD version was released about a year ago with a LOT of extra material: namely, many complete performances by Sam Chatmon, Jack Owens, Sonny Boy Nelson, etc., filmed on their front porches and in their homes. (The film itself has only edited versions of a few of their performances.)

Of these performances, the otherwise unknown (to me) Belton Sutherland is especially noteworthy. He is filmed performing two fine songs in Canton, Mississippi, but nothing else is said about him. His songs are quite good. Wish there was more of him.

[BottleneckJohn]

Wonderful stuff!!

[GavinG]

Hi BJ it's GavinG from the Pickin Parlor here!