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Required watching: We Juke Up In Here: Mississippi’s Juke Joint Culture at the Crossroads

August 14, 2012
Owner Arnold Lopez at the Do Drop Inn in Shelby, MS. Photo by Lou Bopp

We Juke Up In Here: Mississippi’s Juke Joint Culture at the Crossroads is the new film and music project from the makers of the award-winning blues movie M For Mississippi: A Road Trip Through the Birthplace of the Blues. We […]

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Son House “Death Letter Blues” by Jonny Meister

August 9, 2012
Son House “Death Letter Blues” by Jonny Meister

Son House was one of the most deeply affecting blues performers of all time. He had done some preaching in Mississippi, and was apparently quite good at it, though in his own life, the booze and the women kept him […]

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Mississippi Blues: Select Discography by Jonny Meister

August 7, 2012
Mississippi Blues: Select Discography by Jonny Meister

Pre-War and Post-War Blues: Blues is often viewed in two time categories, pre-war and post-war. While this distinction, like any other, has its limits in organizing blues music, it does generally make some sense. Some artists did record both before […]

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Essential listening: Big George Brock

August 4, 2012
Essential listening: Big George Brock

Big George Brock is one of the Mississippi Blues Project featured artists. We asked Jonny Meister, who helped curate this series, and the host The Blues Show and Blues And Beyond on WXPN on Saturdays at 7PM ET, to suggest […]

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Cedric Burnside Burning Hill Country Guitar Instrumental

August 2, 2012
Photo by Colin McAuliffe, 2008

Cedric Burnside reveals the influence of his grandfather R. L. Burnside and other guitarists is this stunning instrumental, and also reflects how his being a drummer affects his approach to playing the guitar!

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B.B. King: Born in Mississippi

July 26, 2012
B.B. King: Born in Mississippi

One of the masters of the blues – B.B. King – was born on September 16th, 1925, on a plantation in Itta Bena, Mississippi, near Indianola. He was influenced by his Mississippi roots and Texas musicians like T-Bone Walker. Watch some videos of King’s live performances throughout the years.

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The North Mississippi All Stars: keeping the Delta blues alive

July 25, 2012
Photo by Jason Thrasher

The North Mississippi All-Stars have been keeping the Delta Blues alive since the band’s 2000 debut Shake Hands With Shorty. Featuring brothers Luther and Cody Dickinson and Chris Chew, the trio’s music has deep roots in the Mississippi hill country blues, influenced by R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough.

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Mississippi Blues: An Overview by Jonny Meister

July 12, 2012
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Mississippi. The mere name of the Magnolia State can still evoke vivid and often frightening memories. The brutality of slavery in Mississippi was followed by the hopelessly unfair system of sharecropping, in which many black farmers were perpetually in debt […]

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Artist Profile: Anthony “Big A” Sherrod

July 12, 2012
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Anthony “Big A” Sherrod is a young Mississippi bluesman, schooled by a noted blues teacher in the area, “Mr. Johnnie” Billington, who taught not only the music but the value of hard work and knowledge of the culture and history […]

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Artist Profile: Big George Brock

July 12, 2012
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Big George Brock is a native of Grenada MS, who grew up near Clarksdale, doing the hard field work that was the only employment opportunity for many residents of this agricultural area. In the 2006 film “Hard Times” he visits […]

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Artist Profile: Cedric Burnside

July 12, 2012
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Music and family came together for Cedric Burnside, a grandson of the famed hill country blues artist R. L. Burnside. Cedric became known for his high-spirited drumming in his grandfather’s band, which can be heard on albums such as “Burnside […]

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Artist Profile: Homemade Jamz Blues Band

July 12, 2012
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The Homemade Jamz Blues Band is a family band from Tupelo MS, a town that will always be associated with Elvis Presley, but also a place where blues artists such as the late Willie Pooch lived and played with considerably […]

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