Mississippi Music Heritage
MISSISSIPPI: BIRTHPLACE OF AMERICA'S MUSIC
Legend has it that Leland Speed once glanced at a brochure given to him by the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame founder, Jim Brewer. He noticed the catchphrase across the front: "Mississippi, Birthplace of America's Music."
"I thought it was rather daring to suggest such a thing," recalls Speed, the former executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority. "But it was a phrase that stuck with me, and I began to wonder, 'Is this really true?'"
Speed phoned longtime friend Luther Brown, director of Delta State University's Delta Center for Culture and Learning.
Speed repeated the phrase to Brown and asked, "What do you think of that?"
"It's true," Brown answered. "Luther, are you kidding me?"
"Not at all."
"Would you stake your PhD and stand before God and defend that statement?" Speed asked.
"Absolutely," Brown said.
Still wanting more proof, Speed began reading books about the history of music. One of them was Delta Blues: The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Music by Ted Gioia, a music historian.
"That book just lays out the case for Mississippi. It spells it out that Mississippi is not only the birthplace of the Blues, but has every right to claim its place as the birthplace of American music," Speed said.
And so it does, because of such legends as bluesman Robert Johnson of Hazlehurst, country artist Jimmie Rodgers of Meridian and rock and roll king Elvis Presley of Tupelo. Members of the Beatles, considered by many to be the greatest rock and roll band of all time, point toward Mississippi when discussing their early inspirations.
"When I first heard Elvis," Paul McCartney stated on the Beatles' Anthology DVD, "I said. 'That's the guru we've been waiting for.' "
Said George Harrison: "The first guitar‐oriented music I can remember hearing was Jimmie Rodgers--"The Singing Brakeman.' "
Gioia, who was born in Los Angeles, traveled to Mississippi on numerous occasions researching the state's music history.
"Mississippi plays a very central role in American music that no one else can top," Gioia says. "Now if I were looking at other
candidates, I could say jazz clearly came out of New Orleans. And there is a lot of traditional music, such as cowboy
songs, that came out of Texas. But if Mississippi started putting up signs as you entered the state saying 'Welcome to the Birthplace of American Music' I wouldn't dispute that."
In fact, Mississippi has done just that.
"Music is such a resource for our state," Speed stated, noting that Mississippi has produced more Grammy Award winners per
capita than any other state. "Everybody loves music. We're all suckers for it. We have really got an asset here that we have been
blind to."
First thing we have to do as Mississippians is understand it. When I talk to different business groups, lots of times I'll start out by saying 'OK, pop quiz: Who is Robert Johnson?' I've had people ask, 'Wasn't he chief of police in Jackson?' So many people from our
own state don't even know who Robert Johnson is. It's strange how oblivious people have been to our music history."
And so it is....Mississippi, Birthplace of America's Music!
"I had attended a concert at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg where Dee Barton was guest conductor and
working with the USM jazz ensemble," Brewer recalls. "Dee Barton grew up in Starkville, played drums and trombone for
Stan Kenton's big band, and also wrote the scores for several Clint Eastwood films. I started thinking about possibly starting
a Hall of Fame to honor people such as Dee Barton. At that point, the tiger was sort of caught by the tail and away we went."
"I want people to know that American music was born right here in Mississippi. I'm determined that people know it.
I guess that is why I wasn't bashful about putting the phrase 'Mississippi: Birthplace of American Music' on our pamphlets.
I know it to be so.
"I thought it was rather daring to suggest such a thing," recalls Speed, the former executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority. "But it was a phrase that stuck with me, and I began to wonder, 'Is this really true?'"
Speed phoned longtime friend Luther Brown, director of Delta State University's Delta Center for Culture and Learning.
Speed repeated the phrase to Brown and asked, "What do you think of that?"
"It's true," Brown answered. "Luther, are you kidding me?"
"Not at all."
"Would you stake your PhD and stand before God and defend that statement?" Speed asked.
"Absolutely," Brown said.
Still wanting more proof, Speed began reading books about the history of music. One of them was Delta Blues: The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Music by Ted Gioia, a music historian.
"That book just lays out the case for Mississippi. It spells it out that Mississippi is not only the birthplace of the Blues, but has every right to claim its place as the birthplace of American music," Speed said.
And so it does, because of such legends as bluesman Robert Johnson of Hazlehurst, country artist Jimmie Rodgers of Meridian and rock and roll king Elvis Presley of Tupelo. Members of the Beatles, considered by many to be the greatest rock and roll band of all time, point toward Mississippi when discussing their early inspirations.
"When I first heard Elvis," Paul McCartney stated on the Beatles' Anthology DVD, "I said. 'That's the guru we've been waiting for.' "
Said George Harrison: "The first guitar‐oriented music I can remember hearing was Jimmie Rodgers--"The Singing Brakeman.' "
Gioia, who was born in Los Angeles, traveled to Mississippi on numerous occasions researching the state's music history.
"Mississippi plays a very central role in American music that no one else can top," Gioia says. "Now if I were looking at other
candidates, I could say jazz clearly came out of New Orleans. And there is a lot of traditional music, such as cowboy
songs, that came out of Texas. But if Mississippi started putting up signs as you entered the state saying 'Welcome to the Birthplace of American Music' I wouldn't dispute that."
In fact, Mississippi has done just that.
"Music is such a resource for our state," Speed stated, noting that Mississippi has produced more Grammy Award winners per
capita than any other state. "Everybody loves music. We're all suckers for it. We have really got an asset here that we have been
blind to."
First thing we have to do as Mississippians is understand it. When I talk to different business groups, lots of times I'll start out by saying 'OK, pop quiz: Who is Robert Johnson?' I've had people ask, 'Wasn't he chief of police in Jackson?' So many people from our
own state don't even know who Robert Johnson is. It's strange how oblivious people have been to our music history."
And so it is....Mississippi, Birthplace of America's Music!
"I had attended a concert at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg where Dee Barton was guest conductor and
working with the USM jazz ensemble," Brewer recalls. "Dee Barton grew up in Starkville, played drums and trombone for
Stan Kenton's big band, and also wrote the scores for several Clint Eastwood films. I started thinking about possibly starting
a Hall of Fame to honor people such as Dee Barton. At that point, the tiger was sort of caught by the tail and away we went."
"I want people to know that American music was born right here in Mississippi. I'm determined that people know it.
I guess that is why I wasn't bashful about putting the phrase 'Mississippi: Birthplace of American Music' on our pamphlets.
I know it to be so.
What The Experts Say
Blues In Mississippi
*Alan Lomax in his book , The Land Where the Blues Began, said, "Although this has been called the age of anxiety, it might better be termed the century of the blues, after the moody song style that was born sometime around 1900 in the Mississippi Delta." Lomax goes on to credit black Delta blues musicians by saying, "Their productions transfixed audiences; and white performers rushed to imitate and parody them in the minstrel show, buck dancing, ragtime, jazz, as nowadays in rock, rap, and the blues."
*While there was indeed anxiety between blacks and whites in Mississippi, at least one venue demanded mutual respect - - - - music. Robert M. Baker, author of A Brief History of the Blues, said, "...blues is a native American musical and verse form, with no direct European and African antecedents of which we know. In other words, it is a blending of both traditions." However, there is no question that rhythmic dance tunes brought over by slaves influenced greatly the development of the blues. Blacks took the instruments and church music from Europe and wove them with their ancestral rhythms into what we know as the blues.
*Christine Wilson, in the Mississippi Department of Archives publication, All Shook Up, Mississippi Roots of American Popular Music, said, "Music that emerged from Mississippi has shaped the development of popular music of the country and world. Major innovators created new music in every form - - - gospel, blues, country, R&B, rock, and jazz."
*William Farris in Blues From the Delta wrote, "Blues shape both popular and folk music in American culture; and blues-yodeling Jimmie Rodgers, Elvis Presley, and the Rolling Stones are among many white performers who incorporate blues in their singing styles."
For another example, Joachim Berendt's book, The Jazz Book, outlines the development of jazz from its blues roots. He indicates that folk blues led to classic blues, boogie, swing, bebop, Dixieland jazz, and to other forms of modern day jazz. Consequently, all of these jazz forms had their beginnings in the delta of Mississippi.
*Although Charlie Patton may be the first folk blues artist to be recorded and recognized, he was not the first folk blues artist. That person is unknown. And while W. C. Handy may be called the Father of the Blues, he did not "invent" the blues. He said in his book, Father of The Blues, "Then one night at Tutwiler [Mississippi]...A lean, loose-jointed Negro had commenced plucking a guitar beside me while I slept. His song struck me instantly. ...In this way, and from these materials, they set the mood for what we now call blues." From that experience, we know that W. C. Handy went on to compose and popularize the blues, thanks to that unknown folk blues artist in Tutwiler, Mississippi.
* AH. C. Speir was the godfather of Delta blues. He was to 20's and 30's country blues what Sam Phillips was to 50's rock-n-roll--a musical visionary. If it hadn't been for Speir, Mississippi's greatest natural resource might have gone untapped." Chasin' That Devil Music by Gayle Dean Wardlow.
*Connecting Mississippi Blues and Country Music - As blues developed in Mississippi after the 1900's and into the 1920's, it began to emerge into the mainstream of popular music. For some time it had been described as the devil's music and was performed mostly in juke joints and local parties. Black and white musicians in Mississippi did things together in the 1920's that even in the 1960's would have been unheard of. Jimmie Rodgers, for example, invited Ishmon Bracey and Tommy Johnson, both black blues artists, to perform with him at the King Edward Hotel in Jackson. This was after Rodgers heard them playing on the street in front of the hotel. The blues influence on Jimmie Rodgers can be heard in many of his songs, such as Train Whistle Blues, recorded in 1929.
*Reader's Digest, May 2008, Pg. 149 - "Cotton, sugar, rice: The Mississippi Delta has some of the richest soil on the planet. But it was another export from that fertile land that truly changed our world: the blues. All of America's popular music - jazz, country, rock and roll, and hip-hop - had its roots in the sound and spirit of the Delta blues."
If we assume that the blues is the basis for today's popular music, then, again, we can assume that Mississippi is the birthplace of America's music.
Country Music in Mississippi
*In his book, Elsie McWilliams, I Remember Jimmie, Edward Bishop said of Jimmie Rodgers , "...the man who set the style of modern country music and who is looked upon as the most prominent pioneer in this field, is popularly called THE GREATEST COUNTRY ARTIST OF THEM ALL ... was a Mississippian."
*Jimmie Rodgers went on, of course, to be called the Father of Country Music. However, according to Gale Dean Wardlow in his book, Chasin' That Devil Music, Searching for the Blues, Jimmie Rodgers came to Jackson in 1926 to record a demo tape for RCA Victor with then talent scout H. C. Speir. Speir had a music store on Farish Street and had discovered many great blues artists in the 1920's and 1930's. For that, he is called the Godfather of Delta Blues. But after hearing Rodgers play, Speir said, "Jimmie, you're not ready to record right now." Speir told Rodgers to go back to Meridian, work up some more songs, and come back later. Six months later, Rodgers found another way to get his songs on Victor. The rest is history.
*Jimmie Rodgers went on to be the first country singer to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. He is the only musician to be inducted into four different music halls of fame.
*Again in his book, Elsie McWilliams, I Remember Jimmie, Bishop wrote, "If Jimmie Rodgers was the FATHER OF COUNTRY MUSIC, then Elsie McWilliams was the midwife." They were a team. And when the final curtain came down May 26, 1933, Jimmie Rodgers had recorded 110 songs in the six years of his recording career, 19 of which bear, Words by ELSIE MCWILLIAMS,"
*In Meeting Jimmie Dodgers by Barry Mazor, this statement appears. "Whether that music would, over time, come to be labeled country, rock and roll, bluegrass, blues, western, Jazz, or American pop, wherever there was space for music of the body and heart, not just the spirit and the head, Jimmie Rodgers would be there."
Rock ‘N’ Roll in Mississippi
*Cub Coda writes in the introduction of the AMG All Music Guide To the Blues, "That rock-n-roll comes straight from the blues is one of the few facts about its history that you get a room full of critics, musicians, or fans to agree on."
*The most influential figure in rock and roll music ever was Elvis Presley from Tupelo. Sam Phillips of Sun Records said that Elvis took from country, blues, white and black gospel, and western music and developed a new form of rock and roll. Elvis was greatly influenced by gospel singer James Blackwood and the Blackwood Brothers, also from Mississippi.
*However, Jackie Brenson of Clarksdale and Ike Turner are said to have recorded the first true rock and roll recording, Rocket 88, in 1951.
*Finally, The Illustrated History of Rock and Roll, published by Rolling Stone, considers Blind Roosevelt Graves to have been the first to record a rock and roll song. Barbecue Bust and Dangerous Woman were recorded in 1936. Roosevelt and his brother lived around Hattiesburg, MS.
Summary
Blues - born in the Mississippi Delta.
Country music - born in the singing of Jimmie Rodgers and the composing of Elsie McWilliams, both of Meridian.
Rock-N-Roll - born in the minds of Jackie Brenston and Ike Turner (now considered the Father of Rock N= Roll) with their recording, "Rocket 88." The recording is widely considered the first true rock-n-roll record. Both men were from Clarksdale.
OR Blind Roosevelt Graves, of Hattiesburg, with Dangerous Woman recorded in 1936.
*In an article in The Clarion Ledger on March 30, 2000, writer Donnie Snow summed it all up. "Mississippi is music. From Elvis Presley to Jimmie Rodgers to Robert Johnson, you'd be hard pressed to find some form of American music that can't find its history burgeoning either in the rich, dark Delta soil or under the warm Mississippi sun. Many around the world revere Mississippi as the holy land, and not because of the fine religious folk."
Mississippi Healing by Robert Joiner of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 4th, 2005
"Still, my thoughts are fixed on the Mississippian puzzle. The state has given the world so much grief and yet so much joy. For every Ku Klux Clan member who sings of Dixie and separatism, there must be 10 Mississippi-born musicians whose creations appeal to our common humanity. In fact, Mississippi is the birthplace of some of the world's happiest musicians, even if they've since been claimed by Nashville, Cleveland and Branson, MO.
Like an old bluesman, Mississippi's in an uphill battle. The state is trying to get past its terrible history of repression; perhaps one path to rebirth and redemption lies through its diverse contributions to music."
*Alan Lomax in his book , The Land Where the Blues Began, said, "Although this has been called the age of anxiety, it might better be termed the century of the blues, after the moody song style that was born sometime around 1900 in the Mississippi Delta." Lomax goes on to credit black Delta blues musicians by saying, "Their productions transfixed audiences; and white performers rushed to imitate and parody them in the minstrel show, buck dancing, ragtime, jazz, as nowadays in rock, rap, and the blues."
*While there was indeed anxiety between blacks and whites in Mississippi, at least one venue demanded mutual respect - - - - music. Robert M. Baker, author of A Brief History of the Blues, said, "...blues is a native American musical and verse form, with no direct European and African antecedents of which we know. In other words, it is a blending of both traditions." However, there is no question that rhythmic dance tunes brought over by slaves influenced greatly the development of the blues. Blacks took the instruments and church music from Europe and wove them with their ancestral rhythms into what we know as the blues.
*Christine Wilson, in the Mississippi Department of Archives publication, All Shook Up, Mississippi Roots of American Popular Music, said, "Music that emerged from Mississippi has shaped the development of popular music of the country and world. Major innovators created new music in every form - - - gospel, blues, country, R&B, rock, and jazz."
*William Farris in Blues From the Delta wrote, "Blues shape both popular and folk music in American culture; and blues-yodeling Jimmie Rodgers, Elvis Presley, and the Rolling Stones are among many white performers who incorporate blues in their singing styles."
For another example, Joachim Berendt's book, The Jazz Book, outlines the development of jazz from its blues roots. He indicates that folk blues led to classic blues, boogie, swing, bebop, Dixieland jazz, and to other forms of modern day jazz. Consequently, all of these jazz forms had their beginnings in the delta of Mississippi.
*Although Charlie Patton may be the first folk blues artist to be recorded and recognized, he was not the first folk blues artist. That person is unknown. And while W. C. Handy may be called the Father of the Blues, he did not "invent" the blues. He said in his book, Father of The Blues, "Then one night at Tutwiler [Mississippi]...A lean, loose-jointed Negro had commenced plucking a guitar beside me while I slept. His song struck me instantly. ...In this way, and from these materials, they set the mood for what we now call blues." From that experience, we know that W. C. Handy went on to compose and popularize the blues, thanks to that unknown folk blues artist in Tutwiler, Mississippi.
* AH. C. Speir was the godfather of Delta blues. He was to 20's and 30's country blues what Sam Phillips was to 50's rock-n-roll--a musical visionary. If it hadn't been for Speir, Mississippi's greatest natural resource might have gone untapped." Chasin' That Devil Music by Gayle Dean Wardlow.
*Connecting Mississippi Blues and Country Music - As blues developed in Mississippi after the 1900's and into the 1920's, it began to emerge into the mainstream of popular music. For some time it had been described as the devil's music and was performed mostly in juke joints and local parties. Black and white musicians in Mississippi did things together in the 1920's that even in the 1960's would have been unheard of. Jimmie Rodgers, for example, invited Ishmon Bracey and Tommy Johnson, both black blues artists, to perform with him at the King Edward Hotel in Jackson. This was after Rodgers heard them playing on the street in front of the hotel. The blues influence on Jimmie Rodgers can be heard in many of his songs, such as Train Whistle Blues, recorded in 1929.
*Reader's Digest, May 2008, Pg. 149 - "Cotton, sugar, rice: The Mississippi Delta has some of the richest soil on the planet. But it was another export from that fertile land that truly changed our world: the blues. All of America's popular music - jazz, country, rock and roll, and hip-hop - had its roots in the sound and spirit of the Delta blues."
If we assume that the blues is the basis for today's popular music, then, again, we can assume that Mississippi is the birthplace of America's music.
Country Music in Mississippi
*In his book, Elsie McWilliams, I Remember Jimmie, Edward Bishop said of Jimmie Rodgers , "...the man who set the style of modern country music and who is looked upon as the most prominent pioneer in this field, is popularly called THE GREATEST COUNTRY ARTIST OF THEM ALL ... was a Mississippian."
*Jimmie Rodgers went on, of course, to be called the Father of Country Music. However, according to Gale Dean Wardlow in his book, Chasin' That Devil Music, Searching for the Blues, Jimmie Rodgers came to Jackson in 1926 to record a demo tape for RCA Victor with then talent scout H. C. Speir. Speir had a music store on Farish Street and had discovered many great blues artists in the 1920's and 1930's. For that, he is called the Godfather of Delta Blues. But after hearing Rodgers play, Speir said, "Jimmie, you're not ready to record right now." Speir told Rodgers to go back to Meridian, work up some more songs, and come back later. Six months later, Rodgers found another way to get his songs on Victor. The rest is history.
*Jimmie Rodgers went on to be the first country singer to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. He is the only musician to be inducted into four different music halls of fame.
*Again in his book, Elsie McWilliams, I Remember Jimmie, Bishop wrote, "If Jimmie Rodgers was the FATHER OF COUNTRY MUSIC, then Elsie McWilliams was the midwife." They were a team. And when the final curtain came down May 26, 1933, Jimmie Rodgers had recorded 110 songs in the six years of his recording career, 19 of which bear, Words by ELSIE MCWILLIAMS,"
*In Meeting Jimmie Dodgers by Barry Mazor, this statement appears. "Whether that music would, over time, come to be labeled country, rock and roll, bluegrass, blues, western, Jazz, or American pop, wherever there was space for music of the body and heart, not just the spirit and the head, Jimmie Rodgers would be there."
Rock ‘N’ Roll in Mississippi
*Cub Coda writes in the introduction of the AMG All Music Guide To the Blues, "That rock-n-roll comes straight from the blues is one of the few facts about its history that you get a room full of critics, musicians, or fans to agree on."
*The most influential figure in rock and roll music ever was Elvis Presley from Tupelo. Sam Phillips of Sun Records said that Elvis took from country, blues, white and black gospel, and western music and developed a new form of rock and roll. Elvis was greatly influenced by gospel singer James Blackwood and the Blackwood Brothers, also from Mississippi.
*However, Jackie Brenson of Clarksdale and Ike Turner are said to have recorded the first true rock and roll recording, Rocket 88, in 1951.
*Finally, The Illustrated History of Rock and Roll, published by Rolling Stone, considers Blind Roosevelt Graves to have been the first to record a rock and roll song. Barbecue Bust and Dangerous Woman were recorded in 1936. Roosevelt and his brother lived around Hattiesburg, MS.
Summary
Blues - born in the Mississippi Delta.
Country music - born in the singing of Jimmie Rodgers and the composing of Elsie McWilliams, both of Meridian.
Rock-N-Roll - born in the minds of Jackie Brenston and Ike Turner (now considered the Father of Rock N= Roll) with their recording, "Rocket 88." The recording is widely considered the first true rock-n-roll record. Both men were from Clarksdale.
OR Blind Roosevelt Graves, of Hattiesburg, with Dangerous Woman recorded in 1936.
*In an article in The Clarion Ledger on March 30, 2000, writer Donnie Snow summed it all up. "Mississippi is music. From Elvis Presley to Jimmie Rodgers to Robert Johnson, you'd be hard pressed to find some form of American music that can't find its history burgeoning either in the rich, dark Delta soil or under the warm Mississippi sun. Many around the world revere Mississippi as the holy land, and not because of the fine religious folk."
Mississippi Healing by Robert Joiner of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 4th, 2005
"Still, my thoughts are fixed on the Mississippian puzzle. The state has given the world so much grief and yet so much joy. For every Ku Klux Clan member who sings of Dixie and separatism, there must be 10 Mississippi-born musicians whose creations appeal to our common humanity. In fact, Mississippi is the birthplace of some of the world's happiest musicians, even if they've since been claimed by Nashville, Cleveland and Branson, MO.
Like an old bluesman, Mississippi's in an uphill battle. The state is trying to get past its terrible history of repression; perhaps one path to rebirth and redemption lies through its diverse contributions to music."
