Blues Story Various Artists Shout! Factory, 2003   Buy it online Reviewed by Mark Gallo	The blues was born at the turn of the century in the Mississippi Delta and other regions of the South. It would become the cornerstone of all popular American music. This is its story as told by the artists who lived it. With these words emblazoned across the screen begins one of the most brilliantly conceived and executed films released on the blues, particularly in commemoration of this congressionally proclaimed Year of the Blues. Produced and directed by Jay Levey, executive produced by Levey and Richard Foos (the man who founded Rhino Records as well as Shout!), with Edward Marritz directing photography and Mark Mandler serving as the sound engineer, the film also counts Jim O'Neal (the founder of Living Blues magazine and owner of Rooster Blues) as executive consultant and associate producer. Not a bad production crew. The folks at Shout! and Imaginary Entertainment, have spliced a series of new interviews done specifically for the project with live performances and rare footage into a superb montage that offers a riveting overview of the roots of the blues. There is no voice-over narrative explaining the music's history or implications. This is strictly the artists telling it like it was. Hubert Sumlin, guitarist with Howlin' Wolf for many years, opens with a story about his mother telling him that if he wanted to do church music, he should do church music. If he wanted to go the other way, he should. His gleeful reply was, "Yes, ma'am, I'm going the other way." Not all the stories included here are as upbeat, but all are wholly fascinating. Among those sharing stories and observations are Willie Foster, Koko Taylor, R.L. Burnside, Othar Turner, Philadelphia Jerry Ricks, John Jackson, B.B. King, Honeyboy Edwards, Little Milton, Charles Brown, Lowell Fulson, Henry Townsend, Pinetop Perkins, Rufus Thomas, Gatemouth Moore, Robert Lockwood, Snooky Pryor, Ruth Brown, Willie King, Gatemouth Brown, Bobby Blue Bland, and Buddy Guy. Magic Slim & The Teardrops offer their observations on the state of the blues with a rip-it-up performance. Broken into sections headed Origins, Early Artists, Down in the Delta, King Biscuit Time, Juke, St. Louis-Texas-and Jump Blues, Memphis, Chicago, Blues Revival and the Birth of Rock and a final unlabeled section, the visual quality of the film is equal to the music it celebrates. The stories that B.B., Koko, Honeyboy and Little Milton tell about sharecropping, slavery and plantation life are chilling. Othar Turner demonstrates how to make a fife. R.L. Burnside speaks of his early exposure to and fascination with Mississippi Fred McDowell and sings for the camera. Charles Brown, Lowell Fulson and John Jackson speak of the importance of the early recordings of Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Blake and Charlie Patton. There is Bessie Smith and Sonny Boy Williamson #2 (Rice Miller) film footage. Here you'll find Gatemouth Moore praising Ma Rainey, and Henry Townsend and Koko Taylor singing Memphis Minnie's praises. Snooky Pryor speaks of the original Sonny Boy Williamson leaving Chicago to go to Helena, Arkansas to have Rice Miller pulled off the air for using his name. Robert Jr. Lockwood's stories of Robert Johnson and Rice Miller are fascinating, and Honeyboy's playing of "Crossroads Blues" on his big red guitar is priceless. Any Muddy Waters performance is a treat. "Can't Loose What You Never Had," with James Cotton on harp, is great. Snippets of John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf and Roosevelt Sykes serve to titillate. If only there were more| There are many omissions. You'll hear nothing of Reverend Gary Davis, Otis Rush, Otis Spann, Paul Butterfield, John Hammond, Magic Sam and other important artists, but this documentary doesn't claim to be Blues A-Z, just a look at where it came from. In that respect, it does an exemplary job. The Blues Story ran on public television during the amazing Martin Scorsese-produced week of blues films. It's all the more the treat to call it your own. Those just coming to the blues will find the film important for its historical perspective. Those who have been listening for years will still find in "Blues Story" a film chock full of great stories and music. You just can't go wrong here, folks. This is one of the best films on the blues to be released in this, or any, year. | December 2003 Mark Gallo is a long-time freelance music journalist whose byline has appeared in over 30 publications in the past 25 years. He has also been a DJ, publicist and archivist/researcher. When not writing about music he is a social worker.