Biography
Based on another Prestige album, '61 Highway Mississippi' is split between sessions held in departments of the Mississippi State Penitentiary - Lambert, and the main establishment at Parchman - and the hill country around Senatobia, Como, and Tyro, to the north of the state. Generally, it was work songs and hollers that were obtained in the prison farms, but one extraordinary bluesman, John Dudley, was discovered at the Dairy Camp, Parchman. Dudley is reported to have recorded four guitar-accompanied pieces, three of which have now been released. His Cool Water Blues (Atlantic) comes from a tradition consolidated by a Crystal Springs school of musicians associated with Tommy Johnson in the 1920s. In turn, Johnson was connected with another group of bluesmen, from Drew, Mississippi, epitomised by the work of Charlie Patton. In this CD, a previously unissued Dudley performance, Clarksdale Mill Blues, indicates he too had knowledge of Patton's work. Dudley's Po' Boy Blues (sound clip), is a version of one of the earliest of knife or bottleneck style guitar accompanied proto-blues to have been collected in the field in Mississippi (by Howard Odum, c. 1905). Again, this emphasises the themes of geographical and historical context that runs through the collecting work of Alan Lomax and his father.
A further example is the musicians centred on Senatobia, Como, and Tyro. Some originally came to Alan's notice via a tip from the Clarksdale street musician Turner Junior Johnson (whose When I Lay my Burden Down is in Wade's 'Treasury'), when he recorded for him in 1942. Johnson told Lomax about Sid Hemphill, the blind multi-instrumentalist from Senatobia. Hemphill, whose 1942 work is featured in the Collection Sampler, was still alive in 1959 and several of his performances are in southern journey compilations. This applies likewise to his daughters, Mrs Sidney Carter, and Rosalie/Rose Hill/Hemphill. Near by, in Como, were the fife and drum band of Ed and Lonnie Young and string unit of Miles and Bob Pratcher (Hemphill was skilled at playing in either setting). Local too, was Fred McDowell, the singer guitarist whose blues and spirituals are showcased in 'Fred McDowell: The First Recordings', as well as in this and other anthologies. Black church music was recorded in Tyro. In toto, here is a rich seam that sustains the high standard of music encountered in the series.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.