Evento

I AM THE BLUES @ 2016 St. Louis International Film Festival

I Am the Blues celebrates the elder statesmen (and women) who continue to make music down in the Delta, from impromptu jams in living rooms to performances in grand concert halls. Embarking on a musical journey through the swamps of the Louisiana bayou, the juke joints of the Mississippi Delta, and the moonshine-soaked barbecues in the North Mississippi Hill Country, the film visits blues musicians from the genres heyday many in their 80s who continue to live in the deep South and tour the Chitlin Circuit. Bobby Rush serves as the films engaging focal point, but I Am the Blues casts a wide net, snaring both musicians who are known to the wider world and those who might be obscure even to blues cognoscenti. Among the legends the documentary visits are Jimmy "Duck" Holmes, Barbara Lynn, Henry Gray, Carol Fran, Little Freddie King, Lazy Lester, Bilbo Walker, R.L. Boyce, L.C. Ulmer, and Lil Buck Sinegal. More an oral history than a traditional talking-heads documentary, I Am the Blues captures conversations in bars, in cars, and on porches, and features playful, boisterous interactions among the musicians, who swap stories and tall tales about blues greats. Filled with great music and lively talk, I Am the Blues pays rousing tribute to the last of the original blues devils.