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.

Remembering Robert Johnson

In 1991, the Smithsonian Institution's annual Folklife Festival presented, as one of the featured presentations of the Festival, The Roots of Rhythm and Blues: A Tribute to the Robert Johnson Era. I was fortunate enough to attend and had the pleasure to see a number of captivating workshops and performances. I still recall folklorist and scholar Worth Long asking Robert Lockwood and Johnny Shines about songs Robert Johnson performed but never recorded. That was the first time I heard of Hacksaw Harney who Robert Lockwood Jr said was one of the few guitarists other than his step-father who impressed Lockwood. There was marvelous music whether Ruth Brown on the first day singing accompanied by Robert Lockwood, or Vernell Townsend (accompanied by husband Henry) singing Stormy Monday as if Walter Davis had recorded that number. Of the artists I had not heard previously, Eddie Cusic stood out with his straight-ahead Delta style blues. Some music from that festival was issued on a Sony-Legacy album which only hinted at the music performed and collected. I reviewed it back in 1992 and here is my review as printed in Jazz and Blues Report out of Cleveland. (www.jazz-blues.org)

Roots Of Rhythm And Blues A Tribute To The Robert Johnson Era

Sony - Columbia

This release from Sony/Columbia, in conjunction with Smithsonian/Folkways, documents the program that was part of the 1991 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Those fortunate enough to attend the festival will remember some of these performances and the workshops, oral history and performers not represented here. In addition to associates of Robert Johnson, like the late Johnny “Ned” Shines, Robert Jr. Lockwood, David ‘Honeyboy’ Edwards and Henry Townsend, a variety of delta blues and traditional African American performers were presented including Lonnie Pitchford, Jessie Mae Hemphill, and others. In addition to festival performers, there are ringers here. While Phil Wiggins appeared at the Festival, John Cephas did not. While I originally thought Cephas and Wiggins’ fine Brownsville Blues was from an earlier festival, I have been told this is a studio performance with dubbed-in applause. Toshi Reagon is heard on another studio recording, albeit without dubbed crowd noise. The centerpiece of the performances are several loose jams credited to Johnny “Ned” Shines (with these being his last “official recordings”) and ensemble. The ensemble includes Townsend on piano, Lockwood on guitar, Shines’ young associate Kent DuChaine on guitar, Lonnie Pitchford on bass guitar and Phil Wiggins on harmonica. There was another jam session with Honeyboy and Larry Wise replacing Lockwood and Wiggins, but nothing from that jam is represented here. Certainly the jam recordings are historic, although the music has some rough edges, with Pitchfords’s bass, Townsend’s piano and Lockwood’s strong authoritative playing keep things from getting too chaotic. The album opens with a very ragged Sweet Home Chicago, on which Shines’ singing sounded tired. The other songs, including his B.B. King influenced Loved and Lost (a retitled version of Have to Pay the Cost) are better performances. Also interesting are Shines’ three short acappella performances including a street vendor’s cry, Watermelons, and the traditional Tell Me How You Want Your Rolling Done. Documentation of these archaic song forms is invaluable whether by Shines, former Parchman Farm inmate David Savage, heard on two field hollers, or some retired railroad workers singing while demonstrating lining tracks. Lockwood and Edwards turn in workmanlike solo performances, Lonnie Pitchford’s three Robert Johnson numbers are adeptly performed, but solo performances by Henry Townsend (sounding like Walter Davis on the superb All My Money’s Gone on piano), and Jessie Mae Hemphill (a very strong Train, Train) stand out. Also included is a solo harmonica feature by Phil Wiggins, and several religious performances from the Moving Star Hall Singers. There were a number of strongly delivered performances not included, ostensively because of technical problems attributable to the hot, humid weather that made keeping in tune a real adventure. Barry Lee Pearson and Bernice Reagon places the performances in their social and historic context. While not indispensable, this makes available a variety of performances and performers not otherwise likely to be found on a major label, and has value beyond that of a festival souvenir.