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Any tips or links for Mississippi Hill Country playing?

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pbyhre:
I was wondering if anyone had any tips, or links to sites with tips, for playing in the style of R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, Robert Belfour, etc.

Thanks
pb

uncle bud:
Not a tip exactly, but you could learn from Robert Belfour himself at the Port Townsend workshop this year, where he will be on faculty.

pbyhre:
I saw that he was going to be there this year.  I've wanted to go up to PT for years now.  Time and money are the only things holding me back.

pb

markm:
Another Hill Country fan!  Cool.  I love Hill Country Music for sure.  Last year Terry Bean was at PT and he was a blast to hang with.  He was raised in Hill Country and he is the real deal, and as mentioned before, Mr. Belfour himself will be at PT next year and that is very exciting for me.  Unfortunately we lost R.L. this year.

Tips?  Well it is technically very simple stuff.  It is doing it correctly that you can spend a lifetime on.  Basically it is a one chord drone with one or two inherent riffs on a constant repeat.  Some songs will go to the IV and V on occasion.  I have both of Belfours CD's.  I highly reccommend them for a real primer into that style.

The idea is kind of a hypnotic, trance like state, derived directly from an African form.  Commercially there is not much call for this type of music, hence it's relative obscurity but it sure speaks to me and can be very engaging live for anyone.

If indeed you love this type of music and want to develop your skill at it I would urge you to find the time for PT this year as both Terry Bean and Robert Belfour will be there.  Opportunites like that are rare indeed, even in the Hills of Mississipppi.

Mark McDonald

Chezztone:
Mark -- Commercially there is plenty of call for hill country music. Like, tons and tons. Fat Possum records, whatever you think of them aesthetically, made a brilliant marketing move in selling hill country blues to suburban northern youth, as a type of outlaw rock. RL Burnside and Jr Kimbrough became stars. And T-Model Ford and Robert Belfour are touring to similar audiences nationally and in some other countries. And the North Mississippi All Stars rocked up the style and are becoming even bigger stars doing it.
And pb, if you want to learn to play it, I recommend studying the recordings of Fred McDowell and John Lee Hooker (yes, I know Hooker is from the Delta, but he is clearly a major source of what is now known as North Mississippi Hill Country sound). Cheers, Chezz

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