Deep Blues

Anyone who was left cold by the 2003 "The Blues" miniseries (or, for that matter, anyone who really liked it) should seek out this documentary. This is the real stuff, not archival footage, that was happening right in front of the cameras. And while the modern blues we see on the festival circuit is a celebration of tradition, this is the thing itself.

Most of Deep Blues is shot in Northern Mississippi hill country, where Fred McDowell is the figurehead of local tradition (as opposed to the Mississippi delta, where Charlie Patton & Robert Johnson are the deities). Impovrished and isolated, the blues lives there in a form mostly untouched by the Chicago sound and it's bastard son, rock & roll. Because of this purity, Deep Blues is, at times, like a window back into the original blues era.

Robert Palmer has that sort of goofy music critic presence that some find annoying, but I can't think of any one else who could have done it any better.

This is perhaps the best blues documentary that I have ever seen. And, as an interesting side note, Deep Blues was instrumental in launching a record label (Fat Possum) that brought many of the stars of this movie to a much wider public; R L Burnside and Junior Kimbrough in particular were saved from obscurity by Deep Blues and Fat Possum Records. Do yourself a favor: if you like blues uncut, check this out, and look into Fat Possum's catalogue.

This really should be a first stop for anyone wanting to experience the atmosphere of, as near as possible in 1992 (when it was shot), how the blues originated.

It gets closer to that country blues and early jook joint feel than any other doco.

Im revisiting it now, 30 years after i last saw it, on release (in an art house cinema here in Australia), and it still speaks to me the way it did on first viewing.

I was drawn to it after Stevie Ray Vaughan sent me down the blue rabbit hole, he was always quoting his sources and wanting people to know and respect the original artists, this was a natural progression

Watch it.....

This warm 90 minutes documentary shows us unknown blues musicians from Mississippi. They play everywhere : on the streets, in dirty little bars, in a barber shop, in big clubs. The film really captures the true faces of blues and shows us that this music had nothing to do with nostalgia or record company hypes. All the performers are absolutely great! One, Big Jack Johnson, have since strats a career of recording artist. He's very intense, like most of these great folks. Superb!

David A. Stewart, with the assistance of the late American music journalist Robert Palmer, visits the Northern Mississippi Hill country to the Delta to pay tribute to Mississippi blues. Stewart was apparently strongly inspired to play guitar by listening to blues music while growing up in the UK.

They manage to track down, hang out & document some of the then obscure, though locally well known blues artists from the region.

Stewart initially seems to be a little bit like a fish out of water here as he gets a chance to play with R L Burnside at a local 'Juke Joint' in front of a live audience, though he manages to hold it together just about.

One of the few blues documentaries to fully feature RL Burnside before his passing in 2005.