I love traveling the backroads of Mississippi. The old narrow highways hold haunting images of what life was like back in the day I was a kid — old country stores with crooked screen doors and PURE Oil signs and empty gins and red dirt roads and kudzu and old family homes leaning to decay, smothered in vines. I am constantly braking to look, and I am always grabbing for my camera. My son has threatened to create me a bumper sticker that says, “This Car Makes Violent Stops and Starts.”

Last week’s jaunt deeper South took me down the Natchez Trace to Tupelo and then across Highway 6 through Oxford and Batesville to Clarksdale, where I hit the famous 61.

It’s still cotton time in the Delta, and in places the road was lined with white, little fluffs that were blown off trailers and hang to edges of the asphalt. I traveled through fields of picked cotton, cotton still on the vine, active gins and compresses…and those cotton fluffs at the side of the road. It chokes me up to even think about it, and the tears flow freely. I think my blood must be white. Cotton was King when I was little.

In Batesville, trailers of cotton had been dropped off for ginning, and I noticed plant yards full of them, all with messages spray-painted on the front sides. “I Am Sick of Healthcare.” “God bless America.” “The Dollar Shall Rise Again.” This was new! They didn’t used to do this when I was a little girl. I found it funny and fascinating and made one of those violent stops on the side of the road to take some pictures — thoughts and concerns and prayerful thanksgiving of grassroots America. Free billboards.

There are several connections between  Tommy Johnson and Robert Johnson. Both lived in the Mississippi Delta region, both were highly influential blues musicians and singers, both enjoyed ‘wine, women and song’ and both sport a mythology that they sold their souls to the devil in exchange for their extraordinary powers in music.

About Tommy Johnson…

“About that time,…, Johnson met the devil at the crossroads at midnight and handed him his guitar. When the devil handed it back, Johnson told them, he could play anything he wanted.”
- Keith O’Brien, in the Times-Picayune, Crystal Springs, M

Tommy Johnson

Tommy Johnson

Tommy Johnson (1896 – November 1, 1956) was an influential American delta blues musician who recorded in the late 1920s, known for his eerie falsetto voice and intricate guitar playing.

“Next to Son House and Charley Patton, no one was more important to the development of pre-Robert Johnson Delta blues than Tommy Johnson. Armed with a powerful voice that could go from a growl to an eerie falsetto range and a guitar style that had all of the early figures and licks of the Delta style clearly delineated, Johnson… left behind a body of work that’s hard to ignore.”
- Cub koda, All Music Guide

Tommy Johnson was born circa 1896, on George Miller’s Plantation near Terry, Mississippi, twenty miles south of the state capital of Jackson. One of thirteen children, Tommy and his family moved to Crystal Springs, Mississippi, around 1910. The Johnsons were a musical family. Tommy’s uncle and brothers Mager and LeDell played guitar, while other relatives played in a brass band. LeDell taught Tommy the rudiments of guitar about 1910, and by 1914 the Johnson brothers were supplementing their sharecropping incomes by playing parties in the Crystal Springs area.

In 1916, Tommy Johnson married Maggie Bidwell and the couple moved to Webb Jennings’s Plantation near Drew, in Mississippi’s Yazoo Delta region close to Dockery’s Plantation. Although Johnson would have several wives, it was his first whom he later immortalized in the song “Maggie Campbell Blues.” Johnson soon fell under the spell of Dockery resident Charley Patton and local guitarists Dick Bankston and Willie Brown. He lived there for a year, learning the nuances of the Delta style before moving on to hobo around Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Johnson, now an alcoholic and womanizer, moved back to Crystal Springs in 1920, resuming his musical partnership with Mager and LeDell. He also returned to life as a sharecropper, playing at parties on the weekends or on the streets of Jackson and nearby towns for tips. During the fall cotton harvest season, Johnson traveled back to the Delta, playing for sharecroppers who had just been paid. During the early 1920s he gigged with Charley Patton in Greenwood and nearby Moorehead. The latter is famous for its railroad crossing Where the Southern Crosses the Dog, heralded in W.C. Handy’s “Yellow Dog Blues.”

Johnson cut his first records with guitarist Charlie McCoy in February 1928 at the Memphis Auditorium for the Victor label. These sides sold well enough to prompt a follow-up session in August of that year. That session yielded the notorious “Canned Heat Blues,” in which he admitted to drinking Sterno to satisfy his alcohol cravings. The theme of alcoholism would be touched upon again in “Alcohol and Jake Blues,” waxed during his final recording session for the Paramount label in December 1929. Johnson traveled to Paramount’s studio in Grafton, Wisconsin, where Delta luminaries Son House, Skip James, and Charley Patton had also recorded. After the onset of the Great Depression, the enthusiasm of the record-buying public lessened and Johnson was not invited to record further.

“Johnson’s recordings showcased an eerie falsetto and masterfully manipulated vocal dynamics that established him as the premier Delta blues vocalist o fhis day…. Johnson was remebered for playing the guitar between his legs like he was riding a mule, playing it behind his head, tossing the guitar up in the air, and other acrobatic antics.”
- from Trail of the Hellhound, presented by The National Park Service

“He’d kick the guitar, flip it, turn it back of his head and be playin’ it. Then he’d get straddled over it like he was ridin’ a mule – pick it that way.”
- Houston Stackhouse, Delta Blues artist.

Allmusic references all of Tommy Johnson’s output:

In the 2000 movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? there is a character named Tommy Johnson (played by Chris Thomas King) who sold his soul to the devil to play guitar. He plays accompaniment for the Soggy Bottom Boys (a band consisting of the film’s three main protagonists plus Johnson) on “Man of Constant Sorrow”. The character of Tommy Johnson in O Brother, Where Art Thou? is reminiscent of the real Tommy Johnson, who used to talk about how “he sold his soul to the devil” at a crossroads in return for making up songs and playing the guitar. The character plays a number of songs by blues musician Skip James. The character was not based on the better-known bluesman Robert Johnson, as some have speculated

Robert Johnson

Robert Johnson

Early in life Robert developed an interest in music. He played Jews Harp and harmonica for the next few years until he became interested in guitar in the 1920’s. Robert was a good looking boy and he became very popular with the girls. Eventually he became serious and married a young Virginia Travis in 1929. She and Robert’s first child died during childbirth in 1930.After this early tragic experience, Robert became absorbed in his music.

While living in Robinsonville, Robert met other blues singers who influenced his early style. Among those were  Son House and Willie Brown. Bluesman and preacher Son House particularly influenced Robert with his ‘raw and intensely pure emotional music. ‘Robert went back to his birthplace Hazlehurst searching for his real father, and became more serious about his music.

Robert’s understanding of women deepened and he began to understand that they could provide everything he needed. He met a kind and loving woman more than 10 years his senior with three small children. Robert and Calletta Craft were married her in 1931. She totally loved and took care of Robert. Robert wasn’t particularly respected at the time because he was not a hard labourer like many people at the time, his work seemed too easy to many people.  No one knew he was married, and thought he was being kept by an older woman.

The trip to Mississippi in the 30’s was really important to Robert. During his stay, Johnson’s personality developed into the man he would be. Also of great importance was the musical talent and ability that blossomed while he was in Hazlehurst. He would spend time alone practicing songs until they were just as he liked them. When he felt ready for more learning, he packed up his family and moved to the Delta.

When Robert returned to Robinsonville, he had surpassed his friends Son House and Willie Brown. He played in bars and on street corners for a new months and then would move on. Robert began to spend time on the Arkansas side of the river, across the river from Memphis in a town called Helena. All the great musicians of that time passed through Helena and west Helena, and many were influenced by Robert.

There was a special young man to whom Robert took a liking named Robert Lockwood, Jr. Robert Johnson lived with young Robert’s mother, Estella Coleman. Robert J. tutored the young man who had an admirable musical talent. He shared much of what he knew with Robert Jr over the next four or five years. His style took on many of the characteristics of Robert Johnson’s. Estella was good to Robert, she took good care of him. Robert stayed in Helena with Estella and Robert Jr, and from this base travelled to play all over Mississippi and the Arkansas Delta. Robert had the opportunity to meet and play with all the great blues contemporaries.

Robert guarded his musical style well. If he felt someone wanted to be like him, play like him, he would leave in the middle of a performance. He loved traveling and seemed always on the move.  Robert could play most anything requested of him. He had an ability to learn music and lyrics quickly, after only hearing a song once, he could play and sing it, not only the blues, but pop, ballads, and other styles as well.

By the mid-thirties, Johnson was well known through the Delta, Mississippi, and Tennessee,and began to think about recording his music. He contacted H. C. Spier in Jackson, MS, who connected him with someone who could help him. In 1936 he began to record his songs, among them his most popular Terraplane Blues. He made eleven records which increased his fame.

Johnson is one of the most admired and influential Delta blues artists despite his short life and the small number of recordings that he left. His songs, such as “Sweet Home Chicago”, “Come on in My Kitchen”, and “Crossroad Blues”, are blues classics — played by thousands of blues artists and adapted by rock ‘n’ roll artists such as the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Eric Clapton. His life and work would later influence the growth and talent of such famous musicians as Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, Bonnie Raitt, the Rolling Stones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and yes, Elvis.

Robert Johnson was a gifted singer, guitarist and songwriter whose life story is wrapped in mystery and legend. Only two photographs are known to exist of him and he recorded only 29 songs before his death in 1938 at the age of 27. Many of his contemporaries believed that he met the Devil at a lonely crossroads at midnight and made a deal to sell his soul in return for becoming the greatest blues musician of all time. More likely, he was blessed with enormous talent and spent a lot of time learning from other blues masters and honing his skills. He achieved some success and fame from recordings and performances during his life and was scheduled to perform at the first “Spirituals to Swing” concert at Carnegie Hall when he died.

Although his burial place remains uncertain, it is generally accepted that his death was not accidental. On Saturday night, August 13, 1938 at a jook joint named Three Forks, Johnson played his last gig. Of the many rumors concerning Johnson’s death in 1938 (stabbing, poison, the devil catching up with him), poisoning is the most prevalent and most substantiated.

The link with the ” devil” is not surprising because in his early years Robert Johnson did not impress, as this quote from the Robert Johnson notebooks illustrates:

But Johnson did not appear to be gifted with a musician’s talent for guitar, as Son House asserts, ” Such another racket you never heard! It’d make people mad, you know. They’d come out and say, “Why don’t y’all go in there and get that guitar from that boy!” (Cobb 289).

However a little later, when he returned to Robinsonville, Son House and Willie Brown were astounded by his artistic development (Lavere 13). Rumors began about Johnson trading his soul to the devil in exchange for his guitar expertise.

Robert Johnson  died on August 16, 1938. He defined the 30s blues era, but died in 1938 at the young age of 27. Though he only wrote 29 songs, his impact on the world of music has been significant.

Cross Road Blues

©(1978) 1990, 1991 Lehsem II, LLC/Claud L. Johnson
Administered by Music & Media International, Inc.
I went down to the crossroad
fell down on my knees
I went down to the crossroad
fell down on my knees
Asked the lord above “Have mercy now
save poor Bob if you please”
Yeeooo, standin at the crossroad
tried to flag a ride
ooo ooo eee
I tried to flag a ride
Didn’t nobody seem to know me babe
everybody pass me by
Standing at the crossroad babe
rising sun goin down
Standin at the crossroad babe
eee eee eee, risin sun goin down
I believe to my soul now,
Poor Bob is sinkin down
You can run, you can run
tell my friend Willie Brown
You can run, you can run
tell my friend Willie Brown
(th)’at I got the croosroad blues this mornin Lord
babe, I’m sinkin down
And I went to the crossroad momma
I looked east and west
I went to the crossroad baby
I looked east and west
Lord, I didn’t have no sweet woman
ooh-well babe, in my distress

There are only two photos of Robert Johnson that have been revealed to the public…one taken by the Hooks Bros. photography studio in Memphis and used on the cover of Johnson’s The Complete Recordings collection, and a so-called “photo booth” self-portrait of Johnson. Recently, however, vintage guitar expert Steven “Zeke” Schein discovered – on eBay of all places – what he believes to be a third photo of Robert Johnson, showing the mysterious bluesman standing alongside his protégé and traveling partner, Johnny Shines.

Robert Johnson and Johnny Shines??

There has been a lot of discussion about whether the photo is really Robert Johnson,(see Vanity Fair) – and  if you want to look at some ‘forensic’ evidence and discussion by some sceptical Johnson fans take a look here.

The photo was first advertised as an early picture of BB King, but it seems that  the long fingers could only belong to Robert Johnson. (note: Has any one asked BB?).

I was talking with someone recently about the Waikato River water that provides some 10% of the drinking water in Auckland. This was approved despite much protest, on the basis that Metrowater would only use it in emergencies. I suspect that Mayor George Wood at the time knew that it would end up being turned on all the time, as part of his deal with his crony mayors.

The water was declared safe by WHO standards, however councillor Joel Cayford, who is now employed by ARC said that it was unsafe. I attended the public meeting where he explained that WHO standards listed a number of quality requirements, but excluded many ingredients such as dioxins, heavy metals, fertiliser and more. In my opinion the meeting wasn’t helped by constant interjections from rent a protester, which didn’t help the cause.

Not long after approval was given by the regional mayors, including the Mayor Bob Harvey of Waitakere who approved it on the condition that Waitakere water would only come from local dams in the rainforest, thus not having to take this water.

What has this got to do with dead zones in the ocean? Well here’s the thing. A lot of the objections against using Waikato river water were because it contains huge amounts of leached chemicals from farms including fertiliser, antibiotics and much more. It appears that these same types of chemicals are flowing from rivers around the world into the sea and several studies are suggesting that the rise in industrial food production is increasing the number of dead zones rapidly.

Oceanic dead zones are areas where the oxygen levels in the water are so low that they kill of almost all forms of marine life. There are now more than 400 oceanic dead zones around the world and they are growing fast.

According to experts, including NASA a major contributor to these dead zones is fertiliser that flows to the ocean from farms both in the form of chemicals leaching from farms and from the animal manure which still contains these chemicals. The nitrogen and phosphorous feeds the algae and phytoplankton, making these plants grow rapidly.

In New Zealand, we have become aware of algal bloom. This is occurring more commonly now both in coastal waters, such as our local Waiheke Island, and also in freshwater lakes, including many in the Waikato, where 10% of our drinking water is coming from.

So what does this mean? We know that fresh water is going to be on of the important issues in the future, both from climate change and from man-made intervention. We know that our oceans are becoming polluted, much of it from man-made waste. We know that the fish stocks are becoming depleted in many parts of the world, due to over fishing, to feed growing nations. But fish are also now seriously at risk from the oceanic dead zones, where oxygen levels are so low that fish and other marine life can’t survive.

We seem to be in danger of creating the ‘unrealistic and unbelievable’ wasted planet that is often depicted on science fiction movies.Am I exaggerating? Well check these examples out:

A dead zone the size of New Jersey of the coast of Oregon and Washington, may be irreversible.

The Mississippi Delta dead zone is one of the smaller ones in the world, only 3,000 square miles. The US Government is investing $320 million to try to slow it down, but as long as the chemicals keep flowing down and farm production is increased, we have a problem.

The Baltic sea apparently contains 7 of the 10 worst oceanic dead zones and it appears that the surrounding countries haven’t been doing much about them. The end result could be the loss of almost all marine life in the area. This map shows how bad it is in places, where the red areas represent areas where the water essentially contains no oxygen.

It appears that the man-made damage to the oceans and lakes in the world could present an even greater problem than global warming and of course one that is compounded by it. If so much water ends up unable to sustain life, how will we survive, especially the poorer areas on the planet, where water is already scarce. The sea’s health is not something we can take for granted, no matter how vast it appears. The attractive colours of algae bloom that we sea coming back each summer in bigger areas, is evidence that we need to change some of our ways, and quickly.

I’ll leave the last word to Joanne from Rocketboom who explains it far more succinctly than I:

“My country is the Mississippi Delta, the river country. It lies flat, like a badly drawn half oval, with Memphis at its northern and Vicksburg at its southern tip. Its western boundary is the Mississippi River, which coils and returns on itself in great loops and crescents, though from the map you would think it ran in a straight line north and south. Every few years it rises like a monster from its bed and pushes over its banks to vex and sweeten the land it has made. For our soil, very dark brown, creamy and sweet-smelling, without substrata of rock or shale, was built up slowly, century after century, but the sediment gathered by the river in its solemn task of cleansing the continent and depositied in annual layers of silt on what must once have been the vast depression between itself and the hills. This ancient depression, now filled in and level, is what we call the Delta. Some say it was the floor of the sea itself. Now it seems still to be a floor, being smooth from one end to the other, without rise or dip of hill, unless the mysterious scattered monuments of the mound-builders may be called hills. … “

William Alexander Percy

Governors from two states will make a major aerospace announcement Monday that will impact the Gulf Coast Corridor — an area from the Mississippi Gulf Coast, through Alabama and into Northwest Florida along I-10.  Barbour will appear via satellite.
http://www.northescambia.com/?p=11747

The governors of Alabama and Mississippi plan to try to rally support for a plan to turn a four-state region along the Gulf of Mexico into an Aerospace Alliance.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1298412.html

The Mississippi Delta soon could be home to a “very sophisticated, advanced manufacturing” operation that would create 500 jobs in five years, Gov. Haley Barbour said Wednesday.
http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20091022/NEWS/910220363/-1/nletter01/Gov.-touts–300M-manufacturing-plant-for-Delta?source=nletter-news

NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center has become the first site to earn project ready certification in an industrial site program formalized by Mississippi Power Co.’s economic development department.
http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20091019/NEWS/91019020/-1/Nletter03/Stennis-center-earns-certification?source=nletter-news

State lawmakers may be gearing up in the coming days for another special session – this one dealing with an economic development project in north Mississippi.
http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20091021/NEWS/910210379/-1/nletter01/Special-session-possible?source=nletter-news

Reed’s Metals Inc., a growing metal manufacturing plant on U.S. 84, is undergoing its third expansion project in as many years and will soon pull in more workers, produce more metal and pour more income into Lincoln County.
http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20091021/BIZ/910210352/-1/nletter01/Metal-firm-expands-despite-economy?source=nletter-news

Northrop Grumman plans to begin conducting test flights of its small, unmanned Navy helicopter Fire Scout in the skies over Jackson County within the first few months of next year.  Along with flight testing comes maintenance. The company plans to add 10 new jobs for flight testing and eight to 10 through the maintenance support contract, company officials said Friday. Three have already been filled.
http://www.sunherald.com/pageone/story/1696394.html?story_link=email_msg

Mississippi had the eighth lowest rate of job losses in the construction industry, an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America
http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20091021/BIZ/91021022/-1/Nletter03/Miss.-among-lowest-in-construction-job-loss?source=nletter-news 

Mississippi saw the number of people working climb in September as the state's unemployment rate slipped in every county.  The state's unemployment rate fell to 8.8 percent in September down from 9.7 percent in August, according to the Mississippi Department of Employment Security.
http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20091022/BIZ/910220349/-1/nletter01/Jobs-outlook-begins-to-brighten-in-Mississippi?source=nletter-news 

At the Biomass Summit this week in Washington, people were talking about Mississippi, said Sumesh Arora, director of Strategic Biomass Solutions (SBS) for the Mississippi Technology Alliance.
http://msbusiness.com/blog/2009/10/mississippi-the-buzz-at-biomass-summit/ 

Economic developers across Mississippi are using a new method to poll businesses and industries to find out their needs and develop better policies to assist their growth.  The 27-question survey was developed by MDA with feedback from economic developers statewide in an effort to expand the reach of the organization's Business Retention and Expansion Program.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20379338&BRD=1377&PAG=461&dept_id=172922&rfi=6 

The U.S. Department of Labor has unveiled $447 million in funding allocations for Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) for states to assist workers who lose their jobs due to outsourcing and foreign trade.
http://msbusiness.com/blog/2009/10/stimulus-bumps-up-taa-funding/  

The land is available. The first tenants are established. Political support is present at the local and state levels. Bring on the jobs. The Columbus-Lowndes Development Link revealed its master plan today for the GTR Global Industrial Aerospace Park . . .
http://www.cdispatch.com/news/article.asp?aid=3385
http://www.cdispatch.com/news/article.asp?aid=3391
http://www.cldlink.org/gtr/ - Presentation

Vitech Systems Group, Inc., a leading provider of enterprise software to group benefit and public pension funds, announced today the opening of a new regional office in Ridgeland, Mississippi.
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS152971+20-Oct-2009+PRN20091020

Even with an economic revival, many U.S. jobs lost during the recession may be gone forever and a weak employment market could linger for years.
http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20091020/BIZ/910200362/-1/nletter01/After-recession-eases–higher-jobless-rates-may-be-new-norm?source=nletter-news

Five Mississippi ports on the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway feel their assets are being underutilized, and they have formed GROWPORTS in an effort to change that.
http://msbusiness.com/blog/2009/10/ports-pooling-marketing-efforts-with-growports/

The Mississippi World Trade Center 2009 Annual Meeting and Awards Luncheon will be held 11:30 to 1:00 on Thursday, November 12.  Contact 601-353-0909 or aatkins@mswtc.org

MEDC Calendar:
November 17 – MEDC Regional Chamber Workshop, Newton, MS “Connecting With Your Members”- www.medc.ms
December 8 – MEDC Member-to-Member Seminar, Jackson, MS “Existing Industry & Business – A Fresh Approach” with Chandler Russ, Director, EIB Division, MDA

Carol Hardwick, Executive Director
Mississippi Economic Development Council (MEDC)
P. O. Box 3721, Jackson, MS  39207
www.medc.ms  
MEDC 2010 Winter Conference . February 3-5 . Hilton . Jackson
MEDC 2010 Summer Conference . July 21-23 . Beau Rivage . Biloxi

MEDC is Mississippi’s professional association of economic development and chamber of commerce professionals. 

When you’re staying at a room upstairs a [former] cotton gin behind the slave quarters of a plantation, what better way to start the day than at a quintessential breakfast dive complete with card sharks and bookies and end it – at least the out and about part – at one of the most famous eateries in the Mississippi Delta, Doe’s Eat Place? Shoe horned in between was the gracious Southern hospitality of Peter and Madge Young (pictured in front of Doe’s). Peter is a relative of sort – technically an ex-relative – of the female DG. Both DGs were extremely fond of Peter’s first cousin, Frances Young Getze, and Peter showed them around Scott, Mississippi, where the Young plantation land was located (part of the Delta Pine and Land Co.) and Frances and Peter’s father spent their childhood.

The DG’s  had been tipped off about Doe’s not in a guidebook (although it’s in many) but by a friend who’d described it as one of the great steakhouses in America. It began as a grocery store but has had a particularly colorful history of bootlegging and honky tonk and all that comes with those businesses. Patrons enter through two kitchens (the first is where the steak is cooked, tonight by a third generation family member).  And let’s just say that the photo on the website makes the place look a whole lot spiffier than it is today – but seedy is the new charming. And the steak is incredible – and huge.

I received some bad news today that Sam Carr died.  Sam was a legendary blues drummer – he was also one of the sweetest people that I came to know.  I interviewed and photographed Sam in 2001 at his home in Lula, Mississippi – the heart of the Mississippi Delta.

I was working on my first really ambitious documentary after getting into video the year before.  It was a personal project that had I tried to get funding for but then 9/11 happened and money dried up over night.  But for me this was a story that I needed to tell and now because these musicians were in their 70’s and 80’s.  I wanted to tell the story of these musicians apart from their music.  I was interested in their cultural stories – about the area they grew up in. the Delta and how that gave birth to their music – the blues.

My first trip to Mississippi was on a shoestring budget with my heart in the right place and open to whatever I may find.  My husband, my 14 year old daughter and I hit to road for the Mississippi Delta the summer of 2001. To be honest I didn’t have much in the way of a planned itinerary.  I had tried to line up interviews with some of the musicians but the cultural divide between us made it difficult to pin down a schedule.  So I was open to letting serendipity happen and it did.

I had spoken with Sam Carr and his wife Doris who had been with Sam since she was 13 years old until she passed away last year.  Sam was very cordial and kind and was quite willing to be interviewed.  I had pinned him down with a date in a vague sort of way and we all – my husband, my daughter and I – showed up at the proper time.  It was a typical August day in the South – hot and humid.  So we sat on a bunch of mismatched chairs underneath a big old shade tree.  Sam literally talked for hours and I was drawn into his stories about his childhood, his father, Robert Nighthawk a legendary guitarist who didn’t raise Sam, his music, his regrets and his life now during his older years. At times it was difficult to understand him because of his dialect but I listened carefully and his words made permanent marks on my soul.  We talked until evening and it will be an afternoon that I will never forget.

Sam’s words became a big part of my film.  That first interview also convinced me that these stories needed to be told – and by the musicians themselves.  I went on to photograph and interview – Little Milton and Robert Lockwood Jr. – who have also left this earth since my interviews.  We still have Pinetop Perkins – 96 years old, Big Jack Johnson, who played with Sam in the band Jelly Roll Kings, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith and Magic Slim. The outcome of my efforts was  a 26 minute film and a still photographic essay about The Delta Blues Musicians that has become a traveling multimedia exhibition.  View the trailor.

I heard this sad news from Pinetop’s manager who I’ve become friends with over the years.  She told me that Sam died quietly with his family and friends around.  She also told me that his family was grateful that I had captured Sam and his stories that day.  And she told me that his epitaph may be “I lived a rich man’s life in a poor man’s shoes” – the last thing that Sam told me that glorious August day.

Last night, I attended a function sponsored in part by the Mississippi Delta Blues Society of Indianola with the support of several local banks and area businesses. Our blues society hosted a social event at the Historic Club Ebony Blues Club in Indianola to welcome Teach For America corp members.

I was able to extend myself to several teachers whom I only had the opportunity to communicate previously via the Internet. Overall, the evening was a success. Over 150 teachers from various parts of the nation were in attendance and had a great time sharing and soaking up the “Soul of the Delta”. Jake and The Pearl Street Jumpers was the feature act. Several artists who frequent Club Ebony also stopped by. The legendary Mickey Rogers sat in with the band for a few. Resident session guitarist and musician, Jamie Potterbaum, entertained along with local performer Alan Jones, and our Republic of Georgia now Delta transplant, Levan Lortkipanidze. There were several other talented individuals to grace the stage that is home to our Blues Ambassador and Club Ebony Blues Club owner, Mr. B.B. King. Along with the great sounds, there was also great food. The menu included Bar-B-Q pulled pork sandwhiches, cold slaw, baked beans, potato salad, desert treats, and sweet tea – courtesy of Trish Berry and The Blue Biscuit, another area hot spot for blues music and of course, good eats.

The night was youth-filled and brought a renewed sense of vision and hope for the Mississippi Delta. This year is the largest influx of Teach for America corp members. The numbers seem to get larger with each school year. Several former TFA members have returned to the Delta and have made it their home. Many continue as educators or are working in the non-profit sector. From the conversations I had with those in attendance, Teach For America really works. TFA not only promotes education, but provides a means of cultural exchange and introduces the sharing of ideas among teachers, students, and parents which ultimately shapes the entire community. And from their experience, TFA members take with them the notion that each individual can make a positive difference. I am fortunate to have met several of you and look forward to working with you in the very near future on various projects to make not just Indianola, but the entire Mississippi Delta a better place. Again, I salute and welcome each and every one of you… and thank you for making a difference.

Quotes of the Day:

“Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius.”

“To the man who loves art for its own sake, it is frequently in its least important and lowliest manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived.” –Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

My brother sent me a book about the Mississippi blues masters earlier this summer and I’ve learned a lot from reading it about things I knew before only in passing.

Some of you probably know I haven’t seen my brother in a lot of years. He’s a semi-recluse, a writer, a music aficionado and record collector, and from the accounts of at least four people who have known him, probably some kind of genius. In my imagination, he’s a real life Mycroft Holmes. Lately, I’ve been lucky to learn a little about him and some of the events that shaped him, for better and worse, thanks to his best friend Carl. Anyway, we have a tenuous line of communication nowadays. I send him an occasional email through his wife and a letter when I want to make sure he pays attention, and he responds with a box of Napa cheese or a book on the blues, only once sending an actual note. I’d prefer a note, but the packages are enlightening. Hopefully, my choices below will pass a bit of enlightenment on to you. They were chosen based on some of what I learned reading Delta Blues; The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Music by Ted Gioia, selected for TB by my brother Bill. I’ve never really listened much to a lot of these old guys so I was pleasantly surprised at how accessible their tunes are on You Tube. If you have the time and the interest, check out some of the songs below. If there is one thing Mississippi has to be proud of more than anything, even more than our state’s contributions to literature and athletics, its the fact that American music was born and raised right here.

Skip James–watch his fingers; also it is immediately apparent that Clapton borrowed heavily from James. I did a quick Google search and immediately found that Cream covered James’ “I’m So Glad” in 1967.

Muddy Waters and Sonny Boy Williamson

Muddy Waters–Baby Please Don’t Go

Old school AC/DC Baby Please Don’t Go

Howlin Wolf–How Many More Years; chose this one mainly for his spoken intro, Gioia says Wolfman Jack’s schtick was a mimicry of HW by the way, but also listen to the guitar work starting at the 2.32 mark and hear what Chuck Berry used; Hat tip to Mr. Wolf for his missin “g”

Son House–Death Letter Blues

White Stripes–Death Letter Blues

Guess that’s enough. I could go on and on. A few months ago I visited the BB King Blues Museum in Indianola, Mississippi. Museums usually hold little interest for me, but this one is really good, and if you are ever within driving distance of Indianola you ought to check it out. My favorite exhibit is a computer panel that is set up where you can search an artist, either a contemporary rocker or a roots bluesman, and trace their lineage going back or forward. There are headphones for your use and not only can you see which bluesman influenced your favorite current bands, you can listen to the songs that illustrate the musical family tree. One could spend days going through just that.

By Susan Middaugh

Photograph © 2002  Gretchen Sacotnik.

At least once a year, go someplace you’ve never been. One fall I went to eastern Arkansas for a volunteer vacation sponsored by the American Hiking Society. (They sponsor summer trips, too. For complete information click the AHS link in the sidebar blogroll.)

Although the week long trip would be work instead of play, it appealed to me for several reasons. Physical labor was a complete change from my office job. Being outside in the fresh air, in the woods, away from email and telephones seemed like heaven. Encouraged by a positive experience during a Sierra Club service trip to Maine a few years ago, there was the prospect of meeting nice people from all over the country. The trip also suited my budget; preliminary expenses consisted of a round-trip airline ticket to Memphis and a modest registration fee. Finally, there was a sweetener. Not all AHS volunteer vacations include free transportation between the airport and the work site, but this one did.

Gretchen Sacotnik, the enthusiastic and outgoing superintendent of Crowley’s (pronounced Crow-Lee’s) Ridge State Park, picked us up herself. In our airport party was Ben, a chiropractor from Ottawa; Sarah, a young professional woman from Washington, DC; and myself. Before heading 90 miles west across the flat Mississippi delta to Arkansas, we stopped for lunch. For this Yankee, that meal offered an introduction to Southern cooking: gravy automatically goes on top of the mashed potatoes — whether you like it or not.

The rest of our party of volunteers drove in from the South and Midwest: Dallas, St. Louis, Louisville, Beloit, WI, Edinburgh, IN. We ranged in age from 30’s to 70’s; several of us, including myself, were grandparents. Eight of the 12 members of our group had been on AHS volunteer vacations before.

Our accommodations, built by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) in the 1930’s, were luxurious by backpacking and tent camping standards. We had heated cabins, indoor showers, and a spacious kitchen equipped with a commercial stove and refrigerator. Everyone took turns cooking and cleaning up after meals. Great grub!

Our day started shortly after 8 A. M. The work, repairing and rerouting hiking and access trails, was often strenuous. I used arm and upper body muscles I never knew I had. (One night in bed before 8:30 p.m.!) We lifted and hauled rocks, raked away leaves and topsoil, and created swales and water bars to prevent erosion. Usually we worked in teams with the more experienced volunteers leading the newcomers.

“Pace yourselves,” the parks superintendent advised. Snacks, water breaks, an hour-long lunch, and leaning on rakes helped. So did the two half-day field trips Gretchen planned.

At night we had campfires, conversation and the occasional board game. There were some surprises, too. A pet deer in a neighbor’s goat pen. And as the park’s law enforcement officer, Gretchen had to carry a gun. Working alongside a woman with a firearm on her hip was a new experience for me.

Also unexpected was the opportunity to experience new language and new meanings for familiar terms. I learned to use a “Pulaski,” a two-headed tool similar to a pickax. The Pulaski helped in removing roots to prevent hikers from stumbling up or down the park’s Dancing Rabbit Trail. When our crew leader told us to “ugly it up,” that meant covering the original trail with downed tree limbs, old logs and underbrush for diversion purposes, then creating a new path in its place.

The best part of the trip? Surveying our handiwork at day’s end. Although many of us were strangers at the start, it was heartening to come together for a common purpose and feel a sense of accomplishment, things one doesn’t usually expect to experience on vacation.

Copyright © 2009 Susan Middaugh.

Susan Middaugh is a self-employed business writer in Baltimore who also writes the occasional personal essay. Her essays have appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, the Baltimore Sun and on the website New-Works.org. Susan is also a playwright with short and full length works produced in the United States, Canada and England. The One Act Play Depot in Canada has published her short play, Such Good Neighbors. Several of her personal essays have appeared on this blog. To find them, check out the archives in the sidebar, beginning in April of 2009. Also in the sidebar under the Blogroll, Business and Writing labels, there are links to Susan’s website, Have Pen Will Travel.

Government and economic development officials in Mississippi will apply for a state grant to help a Texas company locate a new steel mill in western Lowndes County.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/business/6506024.html

A $2.4 million state grant will be used by a General Electric Co. subsidiary and the University of Southern Mississippi for research on composite materials for an engine to power the Boeing 787 and 747-8 aircraft.
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/06/29/ap6598999.html

Jeff Waller, director of the center that serves 12 counties in southwest Mississippi, said he believes the main part of his job is making sure business owners and would-be business owners are equipped to handle the business challenges they will face. And he said the first step to that is creating a plan.
http://www.natchezdemocrat.com/news/2009/jun/28/small-business-development-center-helps-area-entre

Tulane University considering campus in downtown Madison
http://tinyurl.com/mfbpjz

(Gulfport Mayor) Schloegel outlined the main goals in a new strategic plan they developed: Enhance revenue through economic development, with a city emphasis on retail expansion; work with the state port and state Transportation Department to …
http://www.sunherald.com/local/story/1435573.html

His main concerns as a legislator, (newly elected Representative Wilbert) Jones said, will be economic development, forming consensus in the East Mississippi delegation, and procuring nationally competitive funding for education in Mississippi.
http://www.meridianstar.com/local/local_story_182012824.html

And its (Enerkem Inc.) U.S. subsidiary has plans to build a biofuels facility at a landfill site in Mississippi that would use similar urban biomass as well as residues from forest and agricultural operations.
http://tinyurl.com/km9oyz

Where other attempts have failed over the past five decades, an ambitious, broad new long-range plan to lift the Delta out of its persistent poverty — without government carrying the load — has emerged after three years from a commission headed by respected black leader Robert Clark.
http://tinyurl.com/ovjyro

Could the Mississippi Delta become America’s bamboo belt, the breadbasket of a new class of homegrown structural building components?  New plantings are already being planned, according to Ed Johnson of the Delta Economic Development Center. He says that without the conference, …
http://tinyurl.com/mqakt3
 

Flowood will be home to about $22 million in new medical construction…The developments symbolize the health-care industry’s status as Rankin County’s largest employer, said Gale Martin, executive director of the county’s Chamber of Commerce. “Like any business, they cluster,” said Tom Troxler, executive director of Rankin First, the county’s economic development agency. “The medical (industry) is still growing.”
http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20090630/NEWS/906300344/1001
 

Choctaw County awarded an ARC-HEI grant for schools.  Alan Bates, executive director of Choctaw County Economic Development Foundation, said the “goal is to have a higher percentage of students to go to college …
http://tinyurl.com/ookrxv

Alabama, Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, South Dakota, Texas, Oklahoma and Indiana rounded out the top nine (states for oil and gas investment).
http://www.durangotelegraph.com/telegraph.php?inc=/09-07-02/quick.htm

Judson Thigpen, director of the Cleveland-Bolivar County Chamber of Commerce, said he was happy to hear the news of the rehiring at the (Faurecia Cleveland) plant.
http://tinyurl.com/pmm4c9

North Mississippi gets National Heritage Area designation.
http://www.knoe.com/Global/story.asp?S=10130594 

The goal of the publication is to educate potential customers about the innovative and cost effective solutions geospatial technologies can provide to industry and government. This includes decision makers in a variety of private businesses as well as economic development organizations, and all levels of government, but cities and counties in particular.
http://www.directionsmag.com/press.releases/index.php?duty=Show&id=34383

Don’t miss early registration for the MEDC Summer Conference.  Fax your registration form in to MEDC before July 11 to avoid the higher registration fee.  If you have already registered, your name will on the List of Registrants at Conferences at www.medc.ms.

Carol Hardwick, Executive Director
Mississippi Economic Development Council, Inc. (MEDC)
P O. Box 3721, Jackson, MS  39207 
ph-601-352-1909 . fax-601-352-2061 . carol@medc.ms . www.medc.ms
2009 Summer Conference . July 22-24 . Beau Rivage . Biloxi

United Solutions, a manufacturer of plastic house wares, announced this week that it is expanding operations at its manufacturing facility in Sardis by adding a minimum of 20 jobs, equipment and infrastructure.
http://www.panolian.com/content.aspx?module=ContentItem&ID=138007&MemberID=1180  

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced the selection of 11 organizations to receive $6.9 million in loans to spur economic development and create or save an estimated 465 jobs in rural communities. – … (2) counties in the Mississippi Delta… The funds go to community development or regional planning groups who then re-lend the money to local businesses. The loans must be used to create or retain jobs by starting or expanding businesses.
http://tinyurl.com/npks7f

In addition to Wednesday’s program, the Mississippi Development Authority is among those groups that have set up a Web site with information about the more than $71 million it will distribute. MDA money primarily will go to community development, energy and economic development and bond financing.
http://tinyurl.com/m837ew

Speaking in West Point Thursday, the director of Golden Triangle Regional Airport said “We’re a mirror of the local economy.”  … Over the past six years, he continued, more than $3 billion of new investment has come into the region, much of that occurring within the vicinity of the airport.
http://www.dailytimesleader.com/content/blogcategory/14/60

German Filmmakers to Focus on Vicksburg
http://tinyurl.com/ms5ea7

(Mayor-elect Parker)Wiseman has met multiple times with Greater Starkville Development Partnership CEO Jon Maynard and joined him on a trip to Jackson to meet with Mississippi Development Authority Executive Director Gray Swoope and his staff to discuss development opportunities and challenges facing the city.
http://www.starkvilledailynews.com/content/view/154440/60

Jackson County Economic Development Director George Freeland said the addition of the taxiway allows Northrop Grumman to complete more of the Fire Scout testing in Moss Point. This could create at least 16 more jobs at the center, Freeland said.
http://www.sunherald.com/local/story/1442408.html

Viking Range Corp.’s dishwasher plant is showing that not everything is down in this economy.  This morning the Greenwood-Leflore County Chamber of Commerce held another in a series of its Industry Breakfast Tours.  Beth Stevens, executive director of the chamber, said the tour …
http://tinyurl.com/n4c98u

The Mississippi Main Street Association (MMSA) celebrated achievements of Mississippi Main Street communities and member towns at a Blues Reception and Annual Awards Luncheon held (June 25) at the Old Capitol Inn. List of award winners:
http://msmain.pmhclients.com/images/uploads/2009_Mississippi_Main_Street_Awards.pdf

The TAP Alliance, an effort to join Tishomingo, Alcorn and Prentiss counties to cooperate on economic development projects, is founded on the principal that success in one area can benefit all.  Tishomingo County Development Foundation Executive Director Gary Matthews, says money does not recognize political boundaries, nor does the workforce.
http://www.wxvt.com/Global/story.asp?S=10531937&nav=menu1344_2

The Mississippi Development Authority’s Tourism Division announces that three Mississippi cities – Pascagoula, Vicksburg and Greenville – are ranked by Outdoor Life magazine in the top towns for hunters and anglers to live in its June/July 2009 issue.
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/article/20090603/NEWS01/90603020

As links in a chain provide support and stability, so can “business clusters” for the forest products industry, according to a new report by Mississippi State University’s (MSU’s) Forest and Wildlife Research Center. http://www.msbusiness.com/article.cfm?ID=8470

MEDC 2009 Summer Conference . July 22-24 . Beau Rivage . Biloxi
Sponsor deadline . July 1 . (for program listing)
Registration deadline . July 10
601-352-1909 . http://www.medc.ms/Conferences.html

I was out of town for a few days, in the beautiful Mississippi delta, where I didn’t bike. Or walk. Or do much of anything other than float aimlessly in a pool in the middle of nowhere. It was lovely, but I was happy to get back home and back to work. And back to my bike. Today I rode down to the Marigny to get some grading and writing done. And I’ve got to tell you, riding a bike in our current heat wave is a whole new show. I pedaled so slowly, feeling the heat bake my skin. As long as I’m riding, the heat doesn’t feel too terribly bad, but stopping gives the seat a chance to make itself known without the self-propelled breeze. Looking around today I was reminded that I live in a tropical place. The streets are overgrown with plant life, from those sneaky palm trees to night jasmine to crepe myrtles to those spiny plants with the weird fuzzies in the middle (take my word for it). On my ride home from work it was still in the nineties, but it felt so much cooler. I stopped and snapped this picture of long, long grass growing in front of the beautiful Rayne Memorial Church on St. Charles. It made me think about how fast things grown here, as much as they decay. This grass will be long all season, but I wanted to stop, rip it up, and put in some tomatoes.