M For Mississippi - A Road Trip Through The Birthplace Of The Blues
by Roger Stolle, Jeff Konkel, Damien Blaylock, Kari Jones
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: James 'T-Model' Ford, Jimmy 'Duck' Holmes, Robert 'Bilbo' Walker, Terry 'Harmonica' Bean, Wesley 'Junebug' JeffersonDirector: Damien Blaylock, Jeff Konkel, Kari Jones, Roger Stolle
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 94 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2010-06-08
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: M for Mississippi
Movie Reviews of M For Mississippi - A Road Trip Through The Birthplace Of The Blues
Movie Review: Blues as you rarely hear them anymore
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm afraid that I completely disagree with the previous reviewer's negative take on this film. For starters, nowhere in the title of the DVD or its description does it say anything about "country blues," so to compare the artists in this film to Blind Willie McTell or Johnny Shines, both of whom I also love, is like comparing apples to oranges. The film was about the blues as it's currently played today in Mississippi, where a matter of a few miles can result in huge stylistic differences. Several of the musicians in the film weren't even from the Delta but from the hill country of northern Mississippi where a unique style of blues has flourished for many decades. It is characterized by its raw, stripped down, repetitve riffing which, in the hands of its best known practitioners, Junior Kimbrough and R. L. Burnside, is almost hypnotic in its simplicity but to those unfamiliar with the style can sound sloppy and shambolic. Other musicians in the film may be past their prime but still offer insights into how and why they play the blues, which to me is worth seeing. I'll grant you that "Mr. Tater" had little to offer musically, but his appearance in the film is still worthwhile, as he is a regular fixture in Clarksdale and has the blues in his bones. My wife and I personally loved the performances of R.L. Boyce, Pat Thomas and (especially) L.C. Ulmer among others, but we like our blues rough and tumble. It's like the legendary Hound Dog Taylor used to say, "When I die, they'll say 'he couldn't play s***, but he sure made it sound good!" And that about says it all!
(Please note that the soundtrack can be purchased separately on CD. It has proven to be a big hit at parties and sitting around the campfire this past summer. Get them both and crank 'em up, but don't forget the whiskey!)
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