Early on in this film, actor Morgan Freeman labels the blues as “America’s Classical Music.” Along the way in this documentary, he takes you to his young days in Mississippi and where he and Bill Luckett recaptured the spirit of the music with the Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale and the Subway Lounge in Jackson. Through these two venues, you get a feel of the brewing pot for sounds that still resonate in much of our current songs.
Filmed at these venues are prophets of old and new that bring the good news message; Bobby Rush, Vasti Jackson, Eddie Cotton, Sam Carr, Alvin Youngood Hart and Vasi Jackson are just a handful of the artists that both perform and describe the blues, along with the hows and whys these homey abodes came into being. Some fantastic vintage films of rural life both at work and play make you feel like you’re living the music as well as taking it in. There’s lots to learn and appreciate in this film that truly documents a sound and style that is slowly evaporating in the current musical desert.