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Masters of the country blues / produced for Yazoo Video by George Sempepos ; directed by Stefan Grossman and George Sempepos.
- Format:
- Video
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Blues musicians--Southern States.
- Blues musicians.
- African American musicians--Southern States.
- African American musicians.
- Blues (Music)--Southern States.
- Blues (Music).
- Guitar music (Blues).
- Genre:
- Documentary films.
- Filmed performances.
- Blues (Music)
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (52 minutes)
- Other Title:
- Master of country blues
- Masters of country blues guitar
- Place of Publication:
- Paris, France : Qwest TV, 1991.
- Language Note:
- In English.
- System Details:
- video file
- Summary:
- Born in 1902 in the Mississippi Delta slide guitarist/rough-hewn vocalist Son House was a seminal figure in creating the blues, so much so that Muddy Waters considered him to be his biggest influence. He was also the forerunner to the legendary Robert Johnson. This one-hour documentary opens with modern blues maestro Taj Mahal talking about the pioneering great who introduced the acoustic slide guitar barrel housing style--the left hand's little finger sparking the notes with his right hand cooking up the high-charged two-beat rhythms played in the juke joints throughout the Delta. In this doc, it's almost wall-to-wall archival footage of Son performing for the camera with very little commentary on his part about his life. From coming up in the oppression of the Delta to a five-year stint in the notorious maximum-security Parchman Prison Farm on a murder charge that he called self-defense. Son enjoyed a reborn career in the '60s when there was a renaissance of excited interest in the legacy of the blues. On this film, performed for the Seattle Folk Society and posthumously released by Yazoo Video in 1991, Son House also played boogie piano songs as well as a hand-held slide played on the guitar sitting on his lap. For people who did not experience him in person (he died in 1988), this is a valuable document of the buoyant living blues legend in his prime. Dan Ouellette.
- Participant:
- Introduced by Taj Mahal. Son House, Bukka White, Gary Davis, Sonny Terry, Mance Lipscomb, Lightnin' Hopkins.
- Notes:
- Title from title screen (viewed July 03, 2025).
- OCLC:
- 1531301136
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