By Lou Marinoff

From The Land Where the Blues Began (PBS documentary / American Patchwork series, 1979/1985):
“This amazing mix of Europe and Africa is America’s most distinctive song style. It’s also the product of the folk culture of the Mississippi Delta. Today, the blues have gone electric, gone urban, and belong to the whole world.”

From The Ballad of John and Alan Lomax
Transforming American Music, 2014 National History Day Documentary (by Sophia Brown, Emma Fickel, Annalee Trost):
“For the past 50 years, blues and folk music have dominated the music industry, influencing nearly every genre that exists today. Countless artists, from Elvis Presley to Ray Charles and Kanye West, have contributed to a multi-billion-dollar industry that would not exist if it were not for the two men who started it all.”

Meet John Lomax, born in Mississippi in 1867. After earning degrees in English literature at the University of Texas at Austin and at Harvard, he decided to dedicate his life to recording, and thus preserving, the songs and ballads of the rural folk of his day, black and white alike, before these genres of authentic American music vanished from public memory. His son Alan continued and extended this work, publishing definitive collections of songs and ballads from the American folklore tradition.
In 1933, with the support of Macmillan Publishers and the Music Division of the Library of Congress, John A. Lomax made the first of his field recording trips through the American South. Joined by his 17-year-old son Alan, the Lomaxes visited some of the most notorious southern penitentiaries, where he knew that the original and authentic strains of African American folksongs would be preserved, away from the influence of the radio, the phonograph, and the cross-pollination from other forms. The Lomaxes recorded the songs of timber and ground clearing gangs, chants of the railroad and railroad crews, field hollers amidst the cotton. They also recorded comic songs, folk blues, and spirituals.

The Ballad of John and Alan Lomax:
Transforming American Music, 2014 National History Day Documentary (by Sophia Brown, Emma Fickel, Annalee Trost)
“From 1933 to 1941, John Lomax had recorded over 1,200 discs containing some 4,000 songs for the Library of Congress, and had helped inaugurate the audio documentation of the narratives of former slaves. The Lomaxes’ revolutionary use of technology to record music that most Americans had never heard changed the landscape of music forever. Without their enormous contributions, there would have never been an Elvis, a Ray Charles, or even a Kanye West. Without John and Alan Lomax, American music would not be what it is today.”

And add to this: Bob Dylan, The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones, among dozens of 1960s artists. They all owed big-time to the blues.
John Lomax described the blues as: ‘poetic expressions of pungent wit, simple beauty, startling imagery, extraordinary vividness and power.’
Their greatest discovery of that period was undoubtedly Huddie Ledbetter, serving time for attempted murder at the Angola Prison Farm. He had previously been pardoned from a 30-year murder sentence in Texas when Governor Pat Neff visited Sugar Land Prison and was charmed by his singing. Not only did the Lomaxes record and lionize Lead Belly and his 12-string guitar, but they also arranged for his release, on the condition that he accompany and assist them on their mission. The trio became inseparable, and Lead Belly won acclaim in New York City and beyond. His best-known folk song, ‘Goodnight, Irene’, was covered by The Weavers in 1950, the year after his death, and sold 2 million copies.

Walter “Brownie” McGhee:
Archival interview audio (Brownie McGhee speaking on folk and blues music)
“There’s a difference between blues and folk songs. Blues is the music of my people. Folk songs come from many lands. Folk songs… all songs are folk songs. I never heard an animal sing, have you?”

We’ll return to Lead Belly and Brownie later. Now let’s get back to the roots. The blues sprang from the trials and tribulations inflicted on African Americans in their arduous journey from enslavement in the antebellum South, to liberty in the civil rights era, to global prominence ongoing in our century. Those of us who are Jewish know this journey well. For even after millennia, we still celebrate our liberation from bondage in Egypt. And as we shall see in this series, the blues and the Jews share many surprising and highly significant connections.

The blues are a unique mixture of two contrasting aspects of African American experience: the bitter and the sweet. The bitterness of forced hard labor, and the sweetness of profound religious faith. The early blues were forged from the work songs of the chain gangs and the field hollers of the cotton pickers, but were also transfused with a passionate faith in the God of their captors, so joyfully expressed in gospel music. These work songs and spirituals share a common element, which you will hear in every one of the dozens of songs in every part of this series: the call and response. The singer calls out, and the other singers respond. The instruments likewise call out and respond, both to vocals and to each other. The blues is a dialogue in which all voices partake. It invites the listener’s voice, too. First, from Darrington State Prison in Sandy Point, Texas, here’s Lomax’s 1933 recording of Lightnin’ Washington and fellow prisoners singing ‘Good God Almighty’.

Their only freedom lay in song and prayer. Condemned to forced hard labor, they sang and prayed. But when the power of song and prayer becomes unfettered, it is transformed into rapturous celebration. Ruth Davis was born in 1927. She and her sisters—Thelma, Audrey, and Alfreda—were raised in the Southern Baptist genre known as ‘hard gospel’. The unrivaled Davis Sisters in the 1960s on TV’s Gospel Time were joined by the Shiloh Choir, sang ‘I’m on the Right Road Now’.

Amen to that! So we’ve heard from the twin roots of the blues. As we’ll see time and again, they unite in the blues guitar. Meet the Reverend Gary Davis—no relation to Ruth—also known as Blind Gary Davis, which he was. Born into dire poverty in Laurens, South Carolina, the Reverend’s compelling music and ministry—he was ordained in 1933—brought him great acclaim, and a move to New York City in 1940. His style of playing is called Piedmont, after the region sandwiched between the Appalachians and the Atlantic. It features fluid fingerpicking and stylistic chording. Here he plays ‘Twelve Gates to the City’, an impassioned blues hymn to the New Jerusalem as described in Revelation. It’s a Judeo-Christian spiritual, for according to the scripture, on each of the twelve gates is inscribed the name of a tribe of Israel.
Amen to that, too! But one can scarcely mention the blues without introducing Robert Johnson, King of the Delta Blues.

The Search for Robert Johnson:
(1991 documentary, directed by Chris Hunt, narrated by John Hammond Jr.)
“Robert Johnson is considered the king of the Delta blues. He’s also considered the father of rock and roll. It is very significant that Johnson would be considered the father of rock and roll, as it is alleged that he had sold his soul to Satan in Clarksdale, Mississippi, in exchange for guitar-playing abilities and worldwide fame.”

It was after Johnson made his alleged pact with Satan that he became the King of the Delta Blues. Blues master B.B. King said, quote: ‘As a musician, Robert Johnson had it all.’

Eric Clapton:
“I think he’s the greatest… folk blues guitar player that ever lived, and the greatest singer, the greatest writer.”

Keith Richards:
“You know, you think you’re getting a handle on playing the blues and stuff, and then to hear Johnson, you think, ‘Whoa, there’s a long way to go yet, man.'”

The Search for Robert Johnson:
“Blues master and Johnson’s mentor, Son House, said of him before Johnson’s transformation: ‘He’d sit at our feet and play during the break, and such another racket you never heard.’ Son House said he made the audiences mad with his racket. Son House went on to say of Johnson before he made his alleged pact with Satan that he was a talentless and even an irritating guitar player.”

Robert Jr. Lockwood:
The Search for Robert Johnson (1991 documentary interview)
“Well, they say he sold his soul to the devil, and… that’s what they say.”

David “Honeyboy” Edwards:
The Search for Robert Johnson (1991 documentary interview)
“I’ve heard a lot of people say that, uh, he sold himself to the devil and went to the crossroads and all that, but…”

After Johnson’s alleged pact with Satan, everything changed as Johnson went from being the worst blues guitarist in a matter of months to the best. Some musicians who knew Johnson claim that Johnson himself admitted that he sold his soul to Satan.

David “Honeyboy” Edwards:
“He said he done that, went to the crossroads.”

Son House said that when Johnson returned after six to eight months, everything changed as Johnson was transformed almost before their very eyes.

Johnny Shines:
“I never seen him have to practice, uh, anything like that. Never seen him sit down and learn a song. He already knew it. Once he attempted to play it, he knew it. He had a built-in computer. Everything he heard was there. All he had to do was push the button.”

Tragically, Johnson died at the age of only 27. Some say poisoned by a bartender with whose wife Johnson had unwittingly flirted.
We haven’t heard the last of Robert Johnson, as you’ll discover in Parts 2 and 3.

North of Mississippi, the blues took the stage and screen in vaudeville and movies. Meet Mamie Smith, born in 1891 in Cincinnati, died in 1946 in Staten Island. She is known as ‘Queen of the Blues’, and for a good reason. In 1920, she made history by being the first African American artist to record a blues song. Here’s her classic 1920 recording of ‘Crazy Blues’, written by Perry Bradford. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1994.
Mamie’s third husband was Jack Goldberg, a Jewish producer and director. They were married in 1929, when mixed-race marriage was not exactly fashionable. Ten years later, she starred in Goldberg’s production of Paradise in Harlem, directed by Joseph Seiden. In this scene, the ‘Crazy Blues’ morphs into the ‘Harlem Blues’.”

Tennessee is yet another focal point for the blues. Meet Memphis Minnie, born Lizzie Douglas in Mississippi in 1897. At times, she claimed to have been born in New Orleans. At age seven, her family moved near Memphis, where she blossomed into a performer in her teens. She lived in Chicago, New York, and other big cities, and, true to her stage name, died in Memphis in 1973. Her 1936 classic is ‘If You See My Rooster’, later covered as ‘Little Red Rooster’ by Willie Dixon, Howlin’ Wolf, and The Rolling Stones. It’s a lament on being deserted by her lover.

Tennessee is the authentic birthplace of one of the greatest exponents of Delta blues, namely Mississippi Fred McDowell. On a par with Lead Belly and Robert Johnson in terms of his influence, he is famous for saying, ‘I don’t play no rock and roll’.

But rock and roll would sure play him. Here he talks about his country blues style, utilizing a slide on his ring finger.

Mississippi Fred McDowell:
Original Interview from the documentary The Blues Maker (1969), directed by Christian Swenson
“My name is Fred McDowell. They call me Mississippi Fred McDowell. But my home is in Rossville, Tennessee. But it don’t make any difference; it sounds good to me, cuz it seemed like I’m at home anyhow when I’m in Mississippi. And I do not play no rock and roll, y’all, I just play the straight, natural blues. Now the only way you can rock Fred, you got to put him in a rocking chair, or either lay me down, you understand? That’s my type of rocking. And my type of blues, I play with a bottleneck. I like, I like people to listen at what I’m saying. I make the guitar say what I say, you understand? If I say, ‘Our Father,’ it’ll say ‘Our Father.’ If I give out a hymn, it’ll say it. If I play ‘Amazing Grace,’ it’ll sing that, too. Now that’s my style, what you hear me doing there.”

One of Fred McDowell’s most enduring songs, later covered by The Rolling Stones, is a meditation on death called ‘You Gotta Move’. It is pure poetry, reminding us that no matter what our station in life, we are all mortal. So, when the Lord gets ready, you got to move.

West of Mississippi, the blues infused New Orleans and rode through Texas. Meet Blind Lemon Jefferson, a Texan bluesman who died young in Chicago. He didn’t ask much from this world, but he influenced many important blues guitarists. The Beatles covered one of his songs, ‘Matchbox Blues’, as well. One of his classics is ‘Please See That My Grave Is Kept Clean’.

Blind Lemon’s modest wish has been honored to this day. Now meet another celebrated Texan bluesman, namely Lightnin’ Hopkins. He lived long enough to enjoy well-deserved recognition during the blues revival of the 1960s. One of his signature songs is, ‘Baby, Please Don’t Go’.

East of Mississippi, the Georgia blues blossomed in the Piedmont guitar style. Without a doubt, the king of Georgia blues was Blind Willie McTell. Renowned for his virtuosity as a 12-string guitarist and his poeticism as a lyricist, he was universally adored. In 1927 Blind Willie recorded one of his trademark songs, ‘Statesboro Blues’.
Ragtime music emerged between the 1890s and 1910s as a fusion of African polyrhythms and European classical structures. It influenced the Jazz Age and the Piedmont blues alike, and experienced a renewal with Scott Joplin’s soundtrack to the award-winning 1973 movie, The Sting.

Blind Willie McTell’s masterful expression of this idiom is epitomized in his scintillating ‘Georgia Rag’.

Circling westward again, meet Bessie Smith, Empress of the Blues. Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1894, she died tragically in a car crash in Clarksdale, Mississippi—home of Robert Johnson’s crossroads—in 1937. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. Her superlative 1929 recording of Jimmy Cox’s 1923 immortal blues standard, ‘Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out’ is legendary.

Ain’t it the truth! Now meet Big Joe Williams, born and died in Mississippi. Renowned for his 9-string guitar. A  somewhat comedic, or at least an ironic song, ‘She Left Me a Mule to Ride’ he was accompanied by bass and snare drum; it foreshadows the emergence of the blues rock power trio: electric guitar, electric bass, and full set of drums.
We previously met Big Joe’s contemporary, Edward James ‘Son’ House, who witnessed Robert Johnson’s apocryphal transformation. Born in Lyon, Mississippi, Son House died in Detroit, Michigan. He was a formidable Delta bluesman, influencing not only Johnson, but also Muddy Waters, whom we’ll meet in Part Two of this trilogy. Son House’s 1965 recording of ‘Death Letter Blues’, is a grief-stricken lament at the sudden death of his lover.

Nobody wants to get that letter. We’ve met the Queen of the Blues and the Empress of the Blues. Now it’s time to meet Gertrude ‘Ma’ Rainey, the Mother of the Blues. Born and died in Columbus, Georgia, she brought authentic Southern blues into vaudeville. Here’s Viola Davis lip-syncing Ma Rainey’s ‘Deep Moanin’ Blues’ in the 2020 award-winning musical drama, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. The movie also features Chadwick Boseman as the brash trumpet player who tries to upstage her in order to impress a pretty chorus girl.

Even though the early blues took exotic detours through ragtime, vaudeville, the Jazz Age, and the Harlem Renaissance, it remains rooted in the folk traditions of the Deep South. Indeed, as we shall see in Part Two, the migration northward and inevitable electrification of the blues would provoke deep divisions between old-school folk music purists and the avant-garde stage and recording artists. One of the reasons why John Lomax so respected Lead Belly is that he remained true to the folk tradition. As Lomax expressed it, ‘Lead Belly never burlesqued his music.’ One of the most iconic and inspiring songs of that tradition is Lead Belly’s ‘Midnight Special’, based on a prison legend. It was said that if the headlight of the passing midnight train illuminated a prisoner’s cell, he’d be granted a miraculous early release.
In Lead Belly’s celebrated 1940 recording, he was joined by San Francisco’s Golden Gate Quartet.

Sure enough, that light shone two times on Lead Belly. Among the most beloved and cherished blues duos were Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. Saunders Terrell, a.k.a. Sonny Terry, was born in Greensboro, Georgia, in 1911. Walter Brown ‘Brownie’ McGhee, in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1915. They paired up in 1941, and they enchanted audiences for the next 40 years across America and around the world. It was unforgettable hearing them introduced to a packed house and watching them take the stage to resounding applause. Brownie was lame from polio, and walked with a pronounced limp in an orthopedic boot. Sonny was legally blind, and he followed Brownie with a hand on his shoulder. But as soon as they started playing, physical disability morphed into musical enchantment. Sonny was an incorrigibly free spirit and ladies’ man. Brownie, a dependably solid anchor of the duo. A ribald ditty from Sonny’s amorous adventures was ‘Hooray, Hooray’, performed in 1966.

Brownie McGhee sang one of his signature songs, ‘Key to the Highway’, written by Charles Segar and Big Bill Broonzy in 1940 on Pete Seeger’s TV show, Rainbow Quest. The three were long-time friends, and here Pete accompanied them lightly on the banjo.