Blues Traveling: The Holy Sites of Delta Blues, Third Edition

Chapter 10: North Mississippi Hill County

227 The great folklorist Alan Lomax described what he heard in North Mississippi in the 1940s and 1950s as “an early phase of African-American music—not only that, but a clear revival of African tradition, kept alive in the Mississippi backwoods . . . we have found instruments, musical styles, and dancing that link the black South to the black Caribbean and, no question of it, to the dance of Africa as well.” In the hills, Lomax found such oddities as panpipes (also known as quills), fife-and-drum bands that used handmade cane fifes, and wall-mounted one-string guitars made from broom wire and played with a slide. He also found a hypnotic, grooving type of blues epitomized by Mississippi Fred McDowell. The North Mississippi Hill Country sound lives on in Robert “Wolfman” Belfour and the many children, grandchildren and musical offspring of R. L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough. The late music journalist Robert Palmer referred to this sound as “North Mississippi slash-and-drone trance-blues.” Veteran jook joint musicians Kimbrough and Burnside, both of whom learned from McDowell in their youth, enjoyed international popularity in the wake of the 1990 documentary Deep Blues and chapter 10 NORTH MISSISSIPPI HILL COUNTRY their successful (in blues terms, anyway) recordings on the Fat Possum label based in Oxford, Mississippi. Although it is close to both the Delta and the hill country, Oxford does not have much of a local blues heritage. But the presence of the University of Mississippi makes Oxford more inclined toward the study and commercialization of the blues than other Mississippi communities. WMAV, 90.3 FM, hosts a blues program from 10 P.M. to midnight Saturdays that is also broadcast by other NPR affiliates throughout the state. • University of Mississippi (662) 915-7211 Known locally as “Ole Miss,” this campus is where thousands of armed whites fought to try to keep out the first black student, James Meredith, in 1962. The mob killed two journalists and wounded dozens of U.S. marshals. President John F. Kennedy sent in federal troops to secure Meredith’s education and maintain the peace. Nina Simone and Bob Dylan both wrote protest songs about the incident. Bluesman J. B. Lenoir made a 1966 recording, “Shot on James Meredith,” about the later, nonfatal, shooting of Meredith in a protest march away from the campus. One of the few politically outspoken blues singers, Lenoir also had written and recorded the 1965 “Down in Mississippi” (later covered by Pops Staples). Meredith himself is a blues fan who fondly describes a Jackson jook joint performance by “Elmo”—Elmore James—in his memoir , Three Years in Mississippi.And Meredith opened a 1998 lecture at the university by dancing to James recordings. He explained that he had listened to the blues for hours every day during his struggle to enter the university, and that the music gave him the strength to continue. B. B. King, who also donated his records to the university’s Blues Archive, recorded a 1980 album here, Live “Now Appearing” at Ole Miss. The University of Mississippi has an indirect connection to the North Mississippi Hill Country 228 Oxford blues dating from 1885, when Will Dockery graduated from it. Ten years later, Dockery would found the Delta plantation where Charley Patton developed his music. The university radio station, WUMS, 92.1 FM (662-9155395 ), sometimes hosts blues programs, most often on Sundays. • The University of Mississippi Blues Archive In Department of Archives and Special Collections, third floor of J. D. Williams Library (662) 915-7753 The room is open from 8 A.M. to 5 P.M. Mondays through Fridays. At first glance, the Blues Archive looks disappointingly dull. One small display case, an array of posters, and a small rack of records are the only obvious things to look at. But its main functions are preservation and research. The joys of this room go not to the casual looker but to the person who, having obtained the staff’s help in gathering items, takes at least a few hours to sit and listen to recordings, read books and magazines, watch videos, or flip through photographs. Since most of the collection is locked up and the catalog is incomplete , one should ask for staff help immediately upon entering . Nearly any blues-related item you might want is here—if they can find it! Patience and perseverance will pay off. Among the archive...