George Mitchell's 1967 Trip to the Mississippi Hill Country

George Mitchell

Mississippi Hill Country Blues 1967

University Press of Mississippi

In the Summer of 1967, George Mitchell made a trip to Mississippi looking for unrecorded blues singers. The trip was a historic one that indicated that there were a number of down home blues artists of considerable talent still performing older styles of blues at a very high level. These were not the first recordings Mitchell had made, but in providing the initial recordings of R.L. Burnside as well as rediscovering Joe Calicott, who had recorded over 45 years earlier, Mitchell’s recordings were revelatory. Arhoolie issued two albums from Mitchell's recordings under the title Mississippi Delta Blues, although the recordings today are thought of as Mississippi Hill Country Blues, the rubric applied today to the music of Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, Jesse Mae Hemphill and others. The trip also was the source for Mitchell’s classic book Blow My Blues Away.

In addition to documenting the music, through his camera Mitchell photographed these performers at home and with members of their families and community. The University Press of Mississippi has just published a terrific new book by Mitchell, Mississippi Hill Country Blues 1967 that reproduces many wonderful photographs that Mitchell took along with his recollections from that trip and interviews with a number of the performers he met including Burnside, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Rosa Lee Hill and Otha Turner. 

The pictures and words help us enter a world of house parties and picnics as we witness Johnny Woods on harmonica joining with Mississippi Fred McDowell. Mitchell was amazed by the fact they had not seen each other in 8 years when this happened. Then Mitchell recounts recording Calicott, who had made a few 78s with Garfield Acres and one under his own name, and a trip to one of the Hill Country picnics in a chapter titled Ain’t No Picnic If You Ain’t Got No Drums. R.L. Burnside is pictured playing guitar with a son or sons standing behind him. There are images of Joe Calicott playing his guitar on a porch and Fred McDowell reaching over Otha Turner to play the guitar Otha is holding and several pictures of Rosa Lee Hill that show the joy she exhibited despite the poverty she lived under.

An interview with Otha Turner provides backdrop for the Fife and Drum band traditions, but Turner turns out to be a fair guitarist himself. Turner is not the only representative of this tradition as several images feature Napoleon Strickland, who was fairly renown as a fife player. There are interviews with Jesse Mae Hemphill (Brooks), Rosa Lee Hill and Ada Mae Anderson, all of whom were related to the legendary Sid Hemphill who Alan Lomax recorded for the Library of Congress in the early 1940s. In addition to providing insight to their lives and the conditions they lived under, they also provided information on this great Hill Country legend  Jesse Mae Hemphill is the best known of the the three with her marvelous recordings, but like Mitchell himself, one is particularly taken with Rosa Lee Hill who as Mitchell says could stand as an inspiration for all. She was poor as anyone could be and lived in the middle of no where but was one of Mitchell's favorite persons, “That someone that poor could be that spirited and that full of life. …” Mississippi Hill  Country Blues 1967 is dedicated to her. 

Brief biographies presented at the end of this book all provide brief comments of what happened to the subjects after 1967 and a consideration of the legacy of these artists. Even if viewed solely as a coffee table book of blues photography (and the holidays are coming up) this book is easy to recommend. Inclusion of Mitchell’s recollections and interviews which help us understand the world of these performers, make this essential for blues lovers. 

I purchased this book. Some of MItchell's recordings from this trip have been reissued on Arhoolie CDs, while others are available in the Fat Possum box set, The George Mitchell Collection. Here is a link to the University Press of Mississippi blog that was posted before this book was published. It contains some sample photos.

Scissormen Fit Big Shoes

The duo/band Scissormen is comprised of the vocals and guitars of Ted Drozdowski and the drums of R. L. Hulsman and have been laying down their North Mississippi Hill Country inspired blues for several years including having made several recordings. Now under the imprint of the VizzTone Label Group, Scissormen have a combined CD/DVD release, Big Shoes: Walking and Talking the Blues. The CD is a live concert recorded at the Key Palace Theatre in Redkey, Indiana, while the DVD is a Robert Mugge produced film that intersperses the concert performances with a slide guitar workshop at Indianapolis’ Slippery Noodle Inn and an appearance at Cleveland, Ohio’s Beachland Ballroom.

Drozdowski is a music journalist as well as a musician with a defining moment when he became acquainted with some of the musicians of the Hill Country such as R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough and Jessie Mae Hemphill (becoming acquainted with the latter after her stoke curtailed her music making career). The musicians and their songs shaped Drozdowski and his approach that although his playing perhaps rocks a bit wilder than those of his influences. But from them he learned to tell a story through the songs and his playing and he also realizes that he isn’t an academic recreating past musical glories, but uses his personalized adaptation of the style of RL Burnside especially to forge his own musical vision, aided by Hulsman’s very adept support, at time just pounding the groove and at other times adding a parade type rhythmic counterpoint.

The songs are mostly originals by Drozdowski (a few with Hulsman) with one direct cover with several benefiting from spoken introductions that help set the mood. If not as compelling a singer as his musical idols, Drozdowski more than an able one who performs with style, dynamism and a subtlety that may not always be obvious. The recording opens with the title track where Drozdowski tells about when asked about his right to play the blues, it’s a free country, but he is going to do it his own way to fit his own big shoes. Without going into a track by track listing, I should mention some highpoints which include the brooding slow blues The Devil Is Laughing, inspired by R.L. Burnside; the rollicking cover of Burnside’s Jumper On The Live; Tupelo which sounds inspired from a brooding John lee Hooker blues on the flooding of Tupelo, Mississippi that mixes contemplative moments with others marked by hard driving slide as he chants ‘didn’t it rain, oh lord”; Jessie Mae his loving remembrance of Jessie Mae Hemphill; and Whiskey and Maryjane, which he needs to cure his pain that is a hard rocking number.

I had the pleasure of seeing Scissormen and the CD captures the energy and passion of their live performances quite adeptly. The DVD is a fascinating mix of concert film that give a sense of their showmanship in addition to musical skill as well as the folks operating the venues they are seen performing at. So we have Drozdowski chatting with the owner of the Key Theater and including a discussion of the replica plantation cabins constructed to house traveling musicians; learning about the Slippery Noodle’s history as well as see him walking out to the audience, playing slide with a beer can while laying on a chair and more. There are nuggets that can be drawn out of the interview segments, but the video of performances are the real treasure of the DVD of Robert Mugge’s latest film. Certainly the combination of CD and DVD makes this quite an attractive package of the music of a duo that is doing its best to provide their own interpretation of this aspect of the blues tradition. Scissormen certainly fit their own Big Shoes on this dynamic recording and video.

I received a review copy from a publicist for the release. Here is a video of Scissormen.

Lightnin' Malcolm Hills Country Blues Roots

This writer was not enthusiastic with the collaboration of Lightnin’ Malcolm and Cedric Burnside on the 2Man Wrecking Crew CD. It struck me as perhaps taking the North Mississippi Hills groove associated with Fred McDowell and R.L. Burnside in a very limited manner. Malcolm, a Missouri native, who immersed himself in the music of this style is back with a release Renegade on Ruf Records where Cameron Kimbrough, the grandson of Junior Kimbrough, is on drums and several selections have a horn section added.

While its been awhile since I listened to the earlier disc, the performances here strike me as a bit more focused in performance. Kimbrough does a fine job in complementing Malcolm’s vocals and guitar which more than on one occasion evoke Mississippi Fred McDowell. The Hill Country blues style that is the foundation makes use of repetitive, hypnotic grooves that can bore but Malcolm avoids here with his guitar that displays an economy of expression (and aided by Kimborugh’s often lighter percussive touch) as well as his haunting vocals. This is clear on the opening Ain’t Even Worried, as well as the following Stop Fightin’ Over Me with a chugging groove in the vein of some of R.L.Burnside’s numbers with judicious use of tremolo in his fuzzy tone. The rocking groove of So Many Women recalls several of Fred McDowell’s songs such as Write Me a Few Lines, in a most compelling fashion.

The title track is more in the vein of roots rock with some heavily distorted guitar, while the horns embellish Guilty Man providing a different flavor and adding to the variety here. Last Nite I Held An Angel is taken at a dirge-like tempo as his angel has to fly, followed by Precious Jewel with its rock steady reggae groove and horns along with Nadirah Shakoor joining on the vocal. Perhaps because of what might be described as some awkwardness in the lyrics, this is a very appealing track. Come Go With Me is a lesser performance although with a sample dance groove. North Mississippi is a celebration of his home area with brassy punch added by the horns before J Grubbz adds a rap. Foxfire Ranch is a chugging instrumental that builds on a simple musical riff.

There may some songs on this that may strike some as less than inspired, but Lightnin’ Malcolm certainly performs with plenty of heart and conviction here. Overall Lightnin’ Malcolm may be a Renegade but he has produced a solid album rooted in the Hills Country Blues.


The review copy was received from a publicist for the record label.