Today on the program, we present the story of the father of North Mississippi Hill Country Blues, Mississippi Fred McDowell. From humble beginnings, Fred was inspired by the likes of Charley Patton, his neighbor Eli "Booster" Green, and the sounds he gathered from guitarists in Memphis, Mississippi, and the Delta, and defined the often overlooked nuances of the blues. Like many of the great Southern pre-war blues guitarists born around the turn of the century, Fred was "discovered" by Alan Lomax in 1959, and continues to inspire slide guitarists to this day, despite not being a household name in the blues realm.
Mississippi Fred McDowell
