ALL THE BLUES GONE
The delta of the
Mississippi river is the origin of traditional blues--harmonicas,
guitars and voices that cry of sorrow and tribulation. Yet as the river
flows relentlessly south, the blues and its musicians have moved north
and beyond, creating such tributaries as Chicago Blues, Rock and Roll,
Jazz and Rap. All The Blues Gone returns to the source, giving the world
a treasured musical legacy from the soul of African-American culture.
In the tradition of the
great folklorist Alan Lomax, photographer Rex Miller has worked years
in Mississippi, building an intimate picture of Delta musicians, their
lives shaped by generations of farm work, from slavery through
sharecropping through the inner-city problems that have now come to
rural Mississippi.
All The Blues Gone is not a
catalog of musical history. It is a glimpse into the culture and
traditions that created this music, as seen through the lives of some of
its practitioners.
Miller’s dramatic
photographs honor the vitality of Delta life-- the cotton fields where
blues began as hollers and chants; the porches where blues deepened in
the cool of evenings; the juke joints where blues wail until morning;
the infamous Parchman Penitentiary where blues live in fear and
loneliness.
Here are the men and women
who have local fame and national obscurity--John Hurt, Jr., son of
Mississippi John Hurt; Roosevelt “Booba” Barnes, James “Son” Thomas and
Ms. Z.L. Hill, delta legends who have recently passed away.
All The Blues Gone is part
of a multimedia exhibition that has toured galleries, museums,
universities, festivals and performance spaces nationally and overseas.
The exhibition is comprised of
- photographic murals (framed in wood from a sharecropper’s shack)
- a CD soundtrack of music and storytelling
- an istallation of projected images w/soundtrack
- educational programming
All The Blues Gone
Phtographed, written and produced by Rex Miller