#william ferris

Voices of Mississippi is a typically beautiful D-t-D object. It comprises one hardcover book, 3 CDs of blues and gospel music and stories collected by folklorist William Ferris and a DVD of films Ferris made between 1972 and 80, all packaged in a cloth-bound box with an unforgettable image of folk artist and blues musician James “Son Ford” Thomas on the cover. If you are a vinyl hound, you can purchase a single LP of tunes cherry-picked from the blues and gospel discs, and if you are a documentary film buff the DVD separately, but to get the full immersive effect you need to spring for the box. This is a document of a life devoted to celebrating lives and uplifting the best of a culture that’s too easy to be known only through its most odious and self-hating manifestations.  

Ferris’ recordings are from the 1960s through the 1980s. The blues disc was done mostly in homes and stores, the gospel set in churches, and the stories wherever people sat down with Ferris and his tape recorder. You’ll find a few well-known names; Mississippi Fred McDowell plays some splendid slide guitar on his own and accompanying others; author Alex Haley advocates for the beauty of southern rural culture and B.B. King tells you about his guitar’s name; Allen Ginsberg talks with James “Son Ford” Thomas about improvisation. But it’s the experience of seeing and hearing the folks you don’t know yet that will win you over to Haley and Ferris’ love for the ways and the language of rural Mississippi. Whether it’s Reverend Smith and family of Leland MS or Scott Dunbar of Camp Shelbey MS singing a long yarn about liquoring up his girlfriend’s parents in order to get some undisturbed courting time, you’ll hear how folk forms allow people to express their stories and passions.  The short film “Green Valley Grandparents” shows the love and meaning that grow from a social program that connects older folks on fixed incomes with impaired children. In 2018 we need stories like these, and Voices of Mississippi makes it possible to drink deep, faith-restoring draughts.