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Once I had a pretty little girl

I lose my baby, ain't that sad?

Once I had a pretty little girl

I lose my baby, ain't that sad?

You know you can't Spend what you ain't got

You can't lose what You ain't never had

Well you know you can't Spend what you ain't got

You can't lose what You ain't never had

Steal away

Steal away to me

Oh Lord, trouble so hard

Don't nobody know my troubles But God

Don't nobody know my troubles but God

Yes indeed, I trouble so hard

Yes indeed, I trouble so hard

Oh Lord, trouble so hard

Oh Lord, trouble so hard

Wait and let me tell you What you took to me do

Hold me safely I was in love With you

Hiding back and lying in wait

Just the same as bad blame

Oh Lord, trouble so hard

Oh Lord, trouble so hard

I was sent back down South as an eleven year old...

to be saved from sin and to get baptized in my uncle's church.

However, my other uncle, Buddy, a gambler and blues player...

met me at the train station in New Orleans...

and kidnapped me to show me what I'm getting saved from.

I remember going back home to get saved...

and Emmett Till went back and got murdered.

I was going to where the Southern crossed the Dog and to the crossroads...

where Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil.

I would become familiar with names like Ma Rainey...

"The Devil's Son-in-Law", Mississippi John Hurt...

Muddy Waters, Son House.

Names and sounds like Dee Bellum, King Biscuit...

Ferris Street and Bumble Bee Smith.

Two people haunted me since I've been a grown man...

Blind Lemon Jefferson and W.C. Handy.

"W.C. Handy's, St. Louis Blues...

was the first piece I learned to play on my trumpet.

The words to his song...

'My man has a heart like a rock cast in the sea'...

to this day bleeds in memory.

When I get back on that KC road

When I get back on that KC road

When I get back on that KC road

Gonna love my baby Like I never loved before

Hey little man, I'm your Uncle Buddy. Remember me?

I talk to you on the phone.

You're too young to remember when you left.

Give your uncle a hug, boy.

You mama should have let you change trains and come up to Jackson...

I could have pick you up without having to drive all the way down here and back.

But your mama didn't want you riding on no segregated Jim Crow train.

I don't know why she put you in the fire and expect you not to feel the heat.

But even if you don't ride no in the Jim Crow train...

you're down here now boy.

And I'm gonna make sure you see plenty.

- Where is Uncle Flem? - Where he always is, preaching.

That why he didn't come pick you.

He has a whole bunch of sinners he has to pray over.

That's why my grandma sent me down here, to get saved before I'm twelve.

Get saved from what? Life?

The best thing that happened to you is that I picked you.

C'mon, boy.

The ghost of Buddy Bolden walked these streets.

My daddy named me after him...

'cause he thought I was going crazy.

Great musicians came from this neck of the Woods.

Armstrong, Jelly 'R oll Morton.

Your granddaddy worked on a boat.

He loved New Orleans.

And he loved the women here too...

until your grandmamma tamed him. She took his spirit!

This is the place to get your feet wet if you were interested in Blues.

Out of every window and doorway came laughter, smoke...

and a solid stream of music.

In a city where witches are revered.

Uncle Buddy paid respects to Marita Bowes tomb.

I kept my grandmother's prayer book pinned to the inside of my t-shirt...

next to my heart.

Then Uncle Buddy gave me a quick tour where Storyville was years ago.

What used to be Congo Square...

great unknown musicians who will never be known...

used to play here, Junior...

long before Louis Armstrong...

or Sidney Buchet or Joe Olive or Jelly Roll Morton...

this is where...

our people used to come.

It was the only place where they could play their music.

Their music.

Congo Square.

Your roots run deep, boy.

Make this right.

Listen what I got.

I'm wild, babe, I'm wild

A lot of blues singers came from Louisiana.

Lonny Johnson and Lead Belly come from this side of the river.

My uncle told me that he and a gang of boys would hop freights...

going to New Orleans, St. Louis orjust going anywhere.

The Scottsboro Boy's Rape Case put the skids to that.

Everything my uncle told me had two sides to it...

nothing could just be fun, this is the South...

the South that created the Blues. You either laughed or cried.

Boy, you in Mississippi now.

Now I wished that

That's freedom.

That's why I love the ocean.

You damn sure can't pick cotton on no ocean.

You're lucky. You're a city boy.

Don't know nothing 'bout having' to work hard.

- How'd you get this car? - What do you mean?

Well, my mother said you never had a job.

Never had a job?

Your mama saw me pick cotton. Her and brother had a row to pick too.

I stopped picking cotton when I turned fifteen.

Started hopping' trains.

But I got this car B149.

Lesson number one, never believe nothing a woman tells you.

Everybody was amazed that Buddy Taylor...

never spent time in Parchman State Penitentiary or got lynched.

Big Mama, my grandmother...

was always afraid that someone was going to call her to tell her son...

was killed 'cause Buddy acted like the devil...

couldn't behave. He sho 'nough couldn't. Lord have mercy!

My mother is going to be mad at you if I don't get to church.

Boy...

you're only on this earth once, so enjoy life.

You got Mr. Charley always on your back...

and the preacher man singing the blues about getting into heaven.

One day you're gonna thank me.

Tell Billy I'm gonna come up and see him.

Tell him I'm gonna bring Betty Murphy and Jill Brooks.

They couldn't get enough of your boy when he was running the streets.

He don't want no ride.

He walks all the way from Eastabuchie just north of Hattiesburg...

all the way to Parchman Prison to see his son, who won't even talk to him.

He does it four times a year for the last five years.

Put your luggage down, Junior.

Pictures and posters of people like Muddy Waters...

John Lee Hooker, Ma Rainy and Leroy Carr...

and hundreds of other blues singers lived at his tiny shotgun house...

which was the typical size and shape of a blue singers living quarters.

I ain't got but one bed. So you gotta sleep at the bottom...

I'm gonna sleep at the top.

I want you to make yourself at home.

I gotta to run by a lady friend of my and use her phone to call your momma...

to let her know I got you.

But I want you to make sure you leave the door closed...

'cause them mosquitoes will run us out of here, boy.

I'll be back in a minute, Slow.

78's records were stacked in every corner of his shotgun house...

and I was gonna hear every record over and over again.

Some people wake up and have coffee or a shot of whiskey...

Buddy puts a 78 on and dances in underwear.

Wake up, Junior!

Wake up, boy!

This is my cut and run.

In case I have to give a bad acting monkey a close shave.

Home

Baby, don't you want to go

Home

Baby, don't you want to go

I got a letter this morning

How do you reckon it read?

Said hurry, hurry, the gal

You love is dead I got a letter this morning

I said How do you reckon it read?

Oh, I said hurry, hurry

Gal, you love is dead

You know I grabbed my suitcase

I took on down the road

When I got there

She was laying On the cooling board

I grabbed my suitcase

I said I took on down the road

Blues it's not a play thing like people think it is...

like the youngsters today that take anything...

and make the Blues out of it.

Any little something and they it's Blues.

No, it's not.

Ain't but one kind of Blues.

And that consists between...

male and female and St. Louis.

Two people supposed to be in love...

when one or the other...

deceive the other. Hurt the love.

Sometimes, that kind of Blues...

will make them even kill one another...

or do anything...

that kind of love that goes here.

On this side.

That's where the Blues started. Not on this side, on this over here.

That's the Blues. You know I don't feel so bad

Tell that good Lord son without

I didn't have a soul

To throw my arms around

I didn't feel so bad

Tell that good Lord son without

I said I didn't have a soul

To throw my arms around

You know it's so hard to love

Someone who don't love you

Don't look like it satisfaction

Don't care what you do

It's so hard to love

Someone who don't love you

Don't look like it satisfaction

Don't care what you do

Where's the toilet?

Out back.

Buddy lived in a museum of blues memorabilia.

I asked then why he was so worried about the blues passing away.

I thought then that looking at these men and women that they got nothing...

for this music and talent. While they, the record companies...

made out like a fat rat.

Up above my head

I hear music in the air

Up above my head

I hear music in the air

Up above my head

I hear music in the air

I really do believe I really do believe

There's a heaven somewhere

Only in my room

Music everywhere

Only in my room

There's music everywhere

Only in my room

Music everywhere

I really do believe I really do believe

There's a heaven somewhere

Up above my head

I hear music in the air

Up above my head

I hear music in the air

Up above my head

Music in the air

I really do believe I really do believe

There's a heaven somewhere

Heaven somewhere

He would play Sister Rosetta Tharpe's Precious Memory...

first thing in the morning.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe sang in the church when she was a girl...

and switched to Blues, and went back to singing Gospel.

That is Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

And that's Mammie Smith.

God, so many women called themselves some kind of Smith or something...

Clara Smith, Trixie Smith, Bessie Smith, and so on.

Mamie Smith.

Lord, Lord

Lord, Lord, Lord

The first woman to record the blues.

Lord, Lord

Lord, Lord, Lord

It was the beginning...

and the end.

Record company got the blues out, then they started telling people...

what they should like.

But the women records were the first ones to really sell.

They were doing real good for about ten years until the depression hit.

Most of them came from Minstrel shows.

Listen to Ma Rainey.

I'm so unhappy

I feel so fool

I'll always be so mad

I made a See

Right from the start

Always been so hard to find

Although this letter

That I'll write

I hope you'll remember

When you read it, See See

See

See Rider

Ma Rainey wasn't a juke joint performer.

She worked stages and dancehalls and vaudeville.

The theater owners booking association, TOBA...

booked black entertainers for a circuit of theaters...

and variety show houses.

Ma Rainey had the best musicians and writers supporting her...

Louis Armstrong, Charlie Green.

And writers like Thomas Dorsey, Perry Bradford, and Chris Smith.

When you lose your money

Don't lose your mind

When you lose your money

Don't lose your mind

When you lose your good man

Please don't mess with mine

I don't hurt anymore

All my teardrops are dried

No more walking' the floor

With that burning' inside

Just to think it could be

Time has opened the door

And at last I am free

I don't hurt anymore

No use to deny

I wanted to die

The day you said we were thru

But now that I find You're out of my mind

I can't believe that it's true

I've forgotten somehow

That I cared so before

And it's wonderful now

I don't hurt anymore

Those were some mean women, boy.

They could get low 'nough ta crawl unda a snake.

I got nipples On my teats

I know a girl that can fix us some breakfast.

I pretend like I didn't hear it.

Lucille Bogan was born Bessie Jackson.

Her lyrics would make the Marquis de Sade blush.

Gay and lesbian theme were expressed...

in songs by Ma Rainy and Leroy Carr.

Later I would sneak to hear Red Foxx and Moms Mabley.

I learned a lot about body parts.

Boy, we got to get you a hat.

You can't be walking around here bare headed like that.

- What'd my mother say? - The usual fuss.

Scoot on over.

Come on, Junior.

Junior...

this is Peaches.

The finest woman, Lord have mercy, God let walk this earth.

This's my sister's boy.

I remember your sister.

He takes after his Daddy.

Hi.

Hi. You knew my daddy?

Your father's cousin married my third cousin.

That must make you something to me.

In the South, everybody is related, Junior.

That's why we call everybody, ain't no call?

Sit down, boy.

I known your mum has gone to work.

Why did you get that boy following you for?

- To teach him bad habits? - I'm giving him wisdom.

What do you know except promise a woman a whole bunch of lies?

But he is learning from a master.

If you cross your heart to someone

You're not supposed to tell a lie

If you cross your heart to someone

You're not supposed to tell a lie

Before you say a wrong

Or either do wrong

It have to be so long

Or either goodbye

I remember hearing Sonny Boy Williamson's song...

"Cross my Heart".

I always thought that Sonny Boy had Uncle Buddy in mind.

He couldn't be truthful around women and they knew it.

Yes

The first time I crossed my heart

I was by your bedside

Down on my knees

Sure enough, may

And I know the difference between

I knew I'd have to beg you

Please, darling' Help me please

Uncle Buddy heard Sonny Boy when he was staying in Clarksdale...

he would listen to Sonny Boy on "The King Biscuit Show"...

broadcasting from Helena, Arkansas.

Rice Miller took the real Sonny Boy Williamson's name.

Both men were great harmonica players...

bluesmen would borrow lyrics and techniques...

but to take another person's identity was certainly not the norm.

The first Sonny Boy went up to Chicago...

like Robert Johnson, he was killed supposedly by a jealous husband.

It's raining outdoor darling

So come on in this house

You know it's raining outdoor, baby

So come on in this house

Because you know if you get wet Like gonna call you

A daughter beautiful around this bunch

You my baby

I don't want my child to get wet

You know you my baby

I don't want my child to get wet

I know the daughter is beautiful But I take care of

Times like this, Buddy made me not like him.

Or anything connected with him.

I'm trying to be a near church here...

and he comes with a guitar swinging on the shoulder...

I got so mad...

Hey we wish some God hearing' them kids.

I said: What's that you looking on? Ain't that no one's kin...

and spring but the old blues. Next day, I pray and I hear a sound...

so good, I didn't want so much talk.

I didn't want people to kiss me, I was trying to listen.

You'll find my text in the 14th chapter...

of St. Luke.

And than he did the book words...

The words of the text. "And he sat with the servants...

and warmed himself at the fire.

Servant warming by the devil's fire.

My friend, I want a piece upon your mind tonight...

on the careless and unconcerned Christians...

who are always taking sides in world affairs.

Halleluiah!

I think it is a sin and a shame...

when so many Christians that are not even born again...

and are in sin, not saying anything for the Glory of Heaven.

Then try to convince me that you've be born again.

I declare you tonight...

and pray to everyone that is born again...

to let your light shine.

You've got to be careful how you talk, how you act...

and then be careful about the companies you keep.

So many preachers come out here and are in sin.

I have no doubt in my mind about you've been sent.

But the question is: Who sent you?

Everybody that was sent was sent on the word of God.

They have been sent by my Lord.

Because if you have been sent by my Lord...

it makes you act right. It makes you live right.

Then I declare you tonight that I think it is a shame...

that someone here have been drinking more whisky than sinners.

Something that a hypocrite sinner would do.

There a time to lead somebody.

You have to get right yourself before you can lead anybody else.

The blind can lead the blind.

But the blind leads the blind to the dark ditch.

Before you try to get somebody right...

get right yourself.

Then when you get right, you can tell others to get right.

If I were you, I would stop warming by the devil's fire.

I'm aching' all over, baby Believe I got the pneumonia

Blind Lemon Jefferson was born in Couchman, Texas in 1887.

Deep Ellum to levee camps and all in between he traveled as a blind man...

to support his wife and child.

He recorded religious songs under another name...

didn't want to mix the two.

After recording "Pneumonia Blues" he died in a snow storm...

of a heart attack.

Between 1926 and 1929...

he recorded nearly a hundred songs.

How did people like Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Snook Eaglin survive?

There were many others like Willie Johnson, Pearly Brown and Gary Davis.

Ever wonder why all the blind blues singers come from the Southeast?

Sonny Terry, Lemon Jefferson...

Sleepy Joe Estes, Blind Blake...

Mc Tell, Fuller, Simmie Dooley, Ray Charles.

Boy, I've been looking all over for you.

Come on 'round this car and get 'n ' here.

Wake up baby And get your big leg off of mine.

Wake up baby And get your big leg off of mine.

Say "hey baby", let the good man Change his mind.

You can't be mad at me.

They sho 'nough will

They sho 'nough will

Let's go see a movie.

You know that movie "Shane"?

I seen that and that movie High Noon about a dozen times.

I like Shit Kickers better. They're for men.

Why do you do bad things?

You'll be surprised who you find in heaven and who you find in hell.

Come on and go with me, girl.

Naw, you smell like you've been with another woman.

Now, you know you're the only woman in my life.

Buddy Taylor lie like a rug.

You might be able to fool them other old country gals, but...

I ain't paying you no mind.

Then why don't you invite me over to dinner?

I might be fixing' something.

Maybe I'll call you over.

Lord I'm sitting on top of the world

Have been days

I didn't know your name

Why should I worry and cry in vain

But now she's gone

And I ain't worry

Lord I'm sitting on top of the world

I went to the station

Down in the yard

Gonna get me a freight train

Worked and got to home

But now she's gone

And I ain't worry

I'm sitting on top of the world

This is Dockery plantation where Sam Chatmon and his brother Charlie Patton...

worked the land.

I saw Dockery plantation again years later when I was doing research.

I imagined Charlie Patton growing' up out of the ground like cotton seed...

and bursting' out with his guitar.

I found this back in the old house that got flooded back in 1927.

These letters?

That's the book I'm writing.

Is it done?

No.

I got the middle but no beginning and no ending.

What's it about?

It's about why the blues got started here in the South.

It talks about its roots in Africa.

Long before the renaissance took shape in Harlem...

the blues emerged shortly after the end of reconstruction...

a period when former slaves...

had experienced their greatest opportunity...

to be in control of their own destiny.

It was the time of Frederick Douglass, the elder statesmen...

Aida B. Wells, and a young W.E.B. DuBois.

You could order a three dollar guitar from a Sears 'n' Roebuck catalog.

It's not strange how the guitar became the instrument of choice.

It was similar to an African string instrument, the goje.

This new American music started in areas of the South...

where people worked the hardest.

The delta produced a particular flavor and characteristic.

Rough and less mellow like in the Southeast.

Or as a folksier style in the Southwest.

William Christopher Handy was born in Florence, Alabama...

November 16, 1873.

His father, a minister, wanted him to become one as well.

But W.C. Handy was bent on becoming a musician.

He was the first person to publish the blues and years later...

after being cheated by a publisher, formed his own publishing company.

I hate to hear that train Rolling on down the track

I hate to hear that train Rolling on down the track

He heard this new music that was being played by the poor working class...

one night at the train station in Tutwiler, Mississippi.

He heard a man playing the guitar...

who was on his way to Moorhead, Mississippi...

where two trains crossed each other, the Southern and the Dog.

The haunting lyrics stayed with him.

From this came W.C. Handy's "Yellow Dog Blues."

The language of the blues...

like the poetry of Poe Lawrence Dunbar and later Sterling Brown...

was often looked down upon and criticized...

by the more sophisticated black population.

One night, after leaving my office...

I passed by PeeWees Saloon. Next to it was a barber shop.

This barber shop was open 7 to about 2 o'clock in the morning', I said...

"Come on, let's go home.

Whatcha staying up so late for?" He says...

"I haven't closed up cause ain't nobody got killed yet".

And I struck myself and said: "That's it!"

And I went home and wrote the words to The Beale Street Blues At Night.

I've seen the lights of gay Broadway

Old Market Street Down by the Frisco Bay

I've strolled the Prado

I've gambled on the Bourse

The seven wonders Of the world I've seen

And many are the places I have been

Take my advice

Folks And see Beale Street first!

When you speak of the blues that carry 3 lines stanzas...

and they want to tell the story of the blues.

We can't tell it without the story of Joe Turner...

who pressed negros into gambling...

and took them down the Mississippi river to the farms.

They had decoys that lured negros in Memphis...

to crap games where they were arrested and put in prison.

Women looking for their husbands who were late coming home would ask...

"I wonder where my husband is. Then they'd be told...

"Haven't you heard about Joe Turner? He's been here and gone".

They tell me Joe Turner' Come and gone

Oh, Lordy Tell me Joe Turner' Come and gone

Oh, Lordy

Got my man and gone

He come with forty links of chain

Oh, Lordy

Come with forty links of chain

Oh, Lordy

Got my man and gone

We going to Honey Boy's house.

Come on.

Look like it's going to rain.

Honey Boy!

Mr. Goodman, how you doing', sir?

This is my nephew, Junior. He's eleven years old.

This is Mr. Goodman, one of the greatest guitar players ever.

He played with the Red Tops here in Vicksburg.

That boy that you last mentored is playing tonight at the Blue Room.

Honey Boy!

I knew you wouldn't desert me.

Who you got with you?

This's my nephew. He's eleven years old.

You from California.

- Don't look at me like I'm crazy. - How did you know that?

I know when you left from here.

You was born across from the old train station.

- How you know so much about me? - Boy, this is the south.

I wish he could stay here long enough for you teach him how to play a guitar.

He saw Charlie Patton, Robert Johnson and Son House play.

He learned from the blues players.

It'd be great if you can pass on down to him.

It's a shame young people don't know anything about Patton or the other folk.

All you young folk think about is rock n roll.

It's your music and you're gonna lose it.

I came to realize everyone had a guitar and was basically self-taught.

They were masters and great artists.

I looked at Blind Honey Boy and people like Mississippi John Hurt...

and marveled at their artistry.

Whoa, gal

Please don't leave me alone

Death never takes No vacation in this land

He comes into your house And he won't stay long

You look in the bed To find everybody gone

Death never takes No vacation in this land

Well all you ladies gather 'round

That good sweet candy man's in town It's the candy man

Candy man

He likes a stick Of candy just nine inch long

He sells as fast a hog can chew his corn It's the candy man

Candy man

All heard what sister Johnson said

She always takes a candy stick to bed It's the candy man

The candy man

You know you can't spend What you ain't got

Can't lose some new girl You never had

Money in the bank

But I got busted People ain't that bad?

I had money in the bank

But I got busted People ain't that bad?

You know you can't spend What you ain't got

Can't lose some new girl that You ain't never had

Hey, baby

Don't throw your love on me So strong

Hey, baby

Don't throw your love on me So strong

You know your love is like a faucet

You can turn it off and on

To say you play the blues is a serious thing.

Violence and self-destruction was part and parcel.

Bessie Smith bled to death after a car accident.

Leroy Carr died young of alcoholism.

Leadbelly, Bukka White, and Son House took the life of another man.

You get so mad you wanna cry or cut somebody's throat.

I'd be scared to call myself the devil's son-in law...

cause Lord don't like joking' about heaven or hell.

When you get older, it's time to stop acting a fool...

and act like you got some sense.

I lost my sight drinking can hea and bad home brew.

God gonna give you only so many times to stop acting a fool.

I think I'm going to get this boy something to eat.

I appreciate you stopping by.

Come on, boy.

John Henry was a steel driven' man

Yeah he went down

Well, he went down

Take my hammer and carried it To my capt'n

Oh, tell him I'm gone

Won't you tell him I'm gone

John Henry

He left his hammer

All paint' in red

All shining' red

When you know people like Bobbie and Love Grace...

you know you're blessed to the bone.

Only reason I'm feeding you is because you promised...

to put me in your book. I sing.

He only got all men in his book.

I got everybody. He seen it.

Is he really writing a book?

Yes, ma'am.

- What's your nickname? - Junior.

Bobbie, we got to give him a name.

He can't go around calling himself Junior.

That don't sound like a man.

He looks like a Sweet Daddy to me.

- You like Sweet Daddy? - No. I like Junior.

No. You can't have...

Junior.

The women used to call me Shave n Dry.

- Shut up. - How about...

Papa?

How about...

Sugar Stick?

I was back sliding into darkness.

All the names sounded sweet and sticky.

I couldn't come home with any name other than Junior.

My mother would make me pick a switch and whip me raw.

Go on boy, and don't be rude.

- I was between heaven and hell. - Dixie moonlight

Swanee shore

Headed homebound

Just once more

To my Mississippi

Delta home

Southland has that Grand garden spot

Although you believe or not

I hear those breeze a-whispering

"Come on back to me"

Muddy water 'round my feet

I'm gonna wait until you grow up.

Because you're gonna be my man.

You're my...

Sugar Daddy. My...

- Sweet Drops. - Just God don't shelter

Down on the delta

Muddy water in my shoes

Reeling and rocking to them

Lowdown blues

They live in

Ease and comfort Down there

I do declare

I'm a fool to want you

I'm a fool to want you

- To want a love - He would always be a head of us.

He knew the trails and paths that the Underground Rail Road took.

Instead of the trails leading him to freedom...

the trails led him to his imprisoned son.

I'm a fool to hold you

Such a fool to hold you

To seek a kiss

Not mine alone

To share a kiss

That devil has known

Time and time again

I said I'd leave you

Time and time again

I went away

I hate to go down I hate to go down this Ionesome road

I hate to go down the Ionesome road By myself

Yes, I hate to go down This Ionesome road

I hate to go down this road By myself

Yes, I guess I might've Used to make it

Or Lightning' don't have nobody else

Lightning' will keep on traveling'

Till I find me someplace to go

I'm gonna keep on traveling'

Till I find me someplace to go

You know you're Ionesome When you're traveling

Down this road by yourself

Just think...

the water from the Mississippi overflowed all the way from...

one end all the way to the other.

All this was under five feet of water for as far as I can see.

A lot of people lost their lives.

1927.

Your granddaddy worked on a levee.

He was forced to.

So many of our people worked so hard and had nothing to show for it.

When I was young man I'd drive down through here afraid to stop.

If you didn't have a job...

you got arrested and they...

they'd farm you out to work.

Come on.

Come on.

Tell me.

Coming to the crossroads...

I found luck has nothing to do with God or the devil.

It was a matter of fate.

Some bluesmen played with fate.

They acted as sort of tricksters associating with good and evil...

but in the end, they searched for redemption.

Tommy Johnson was one of the first to claim...

that he sold his soul to the devil. That took nerve.

Robert Johnson was rumored to have gone to the crossroads...

to bargain his soul away for the artistry of the guitar.

When he came back from the crossroads, his style was different.

And he seemed to be another person.

Petey Wheastraw claimed to be the devil's son-in-law.

All died violently. Except for Tommy Johnson.

We gonna wait to see if the devil comes.

This is the crossroads...

where Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil.

- What devil? - The real devil.

Music did bring me to the gutter.

It brought me to sleep on the levy of the Mississippi river.

On the cobblestones, broke and hungry.

And if you've ever slept on cobblestones or had no where to sleep...

you can understand why I began this song with...

"I hate to see the evening sun go down".

I hate to see

The evening sun go down

Hate to see

The evening sun go down

'Cause my baby

Done left this town

Feel tomorrow

Like I feel today

Feel tomorrow

Like I feel today

I'm gonna pack my trunk

And make my getaway

St. Louis woman

With her diamond rings

Pulls a man around

By her apron strings

If it wasn't for powder

And her store-bought hair

This man of mine

Wouldn't go nowhere

Nowhere

I got those St. Louis blues

Just as blue as I can be

Oh, my man's got a heart

Like a rock cast in the sea

- Don't leave me. - Woman, get out of my face.

Don't leave me!

My man's got a heart

Like a rock cast in the sea

'Cause my baby

He's done left this town

My baby done left this town

- Did ya saw anything? - I saw a ghost.

Boy, boy...

Boy, boy...

I was only joking about that devil business.

Can't nobody sell their soul to the devil.

I did see a ghost.

Okay, okay...

okay...

you saw a ghost...

yeah.

That couldn't have been W.C. Handy then, cause he was still alive.

It could have been the devil playing tricks again.

Freight train Freight train running' so fast

Freight train Freight train running' so fast

Please don't tell what train I'm on

They won't know Where I've gone

I worked and boarded.

I'd go from door to door...

and ask people if they didn't need someone to work for them.

Sometime they would just look at me...

sometime they shut the door, no we don't need nobody.

I went to one lady's house and when she opened the door...

after I got through tell her what I can do...

she said: "What can a little girl like you do?"

I said: Miss, I can help you with your vegetables...

I can set you table, I can sweep your kitchen...

I can help with your children, I can bring in your wood...

I can make your fire, I had all of that on one string.

So she says: "Well, come in".

Then she opened the door and I went in.

Then she hired me that day...

and I started working for her and she paid me 75 cents a month.

And after I worked awhile...

I guess she could see that I could do exactly what I said I could do.

But she says to me: "We gonna pay you more money"...

she said "we gonna give you 25 cents more"...

which made me get a dollar a month.

I gave the money to my mother and ask her to buy me a guitar.

My mother bought the guitar...

and paid three dollars and seventy-five cents for it.

And after momma bought the guitar it was to her sorrow...

because she didn't get no more rest.

Then I started banging on that trying to learn to play the guitar...

because I didn't know what to do with all those strings.

When my

B- b-baby kiss me

And she squeeze me real tight

She l-l-Iook me In the eyes and say

"Everything's alright

But I get nervous

Everybody have the blues, there's no doubt about it.

Everybody have 'em...

but everybody's blues aren't exactly the same...

and everybody don't express it the same way.

They express it according to the type of the...

raising and the surrounding that they had been around.

I love the blues and wanna play them, I was born with them.

I couldn't help that.

My momma had them and my daddy had 'em too.

And the main thing is that I ain't ashamed, ain't that nice.

The blues is the truth.

If it's not the truth, it's not the blues.

I remember down South we used to...

be out on the plantation and various things...

and you would hear a guy would get up early in the morning...

and unconsciously he would just be thinking...

and he's thinking about his condition and if he was some other place...

or if he was up the road...

down in the Southern states they always felt like the Northern states...

would be a place where he could really enjoy and be himself and relax...

and many times he been work hard all night, something like that...

all day, went to bed at night, get up early in the morning...

unconsciously he thinking and that's the way the blues are...

unconsciously you think about the things that you would desire...

in mind and you go to gradually singing them.

That's why early in the morning you hear a guy going out there...

to catch his news in the morning...

going to pick cotton and he come up with a thing about...

One of these days

It won't be long

You will look for me, captain

I'll be gone

Lonesome time will leave you feeling sad and blue.

I'm talking about the Blues, nah I ain't talking about monkey junk.

He go away...

he sit down...

and he cry, hang their head and cry.

That kind of low what I'm talking about. What bring the Blues...

B-L-U-E-S.

Now that's the only thing what Blues is, this other stuff is that's no Blues.

I'm a n-n-nervous man

And I t-t-tremble all In my b-b-bones

TB is killing me

Why you can't just drop an apple pie?

Lost in that deep blue sea?

I was up on my feet

I could not walk on this feet

You must've looked at me

From my head to my feet

But now

TB is killing me

Why can't you just spare my apple pie?

Lost in that deep blue sea?

I woke up

This morning

But all my highway's you

To take me belongs I

At the highway blues

Play that, boy

I woke up

On the highway

That old Gray Hound bus had gone

Standing about you, woman I love In California

I show God we'll walk home

Long, long way, man Walk it down

Walk and ride

Boom boom boom boom

I'm gonna shoot you right down

Right off your feet

Take you home with me

Boom boom boom boom

I love to see you walk

Up and down the floor

When you talking' to me

That baby talk

I like it like that

When you talk like that

It knocks me dead

Right off of my feet

Hoo hoo hoo

Whoa, baby

When you walk, baby

You know I'll never

Whas happening, man?

Hey, hey boy!

Come on. Yeah!

Whas happening? Hey, gal.

Walter!

Betty!

Hey, Rose.

- How you doing? - Alright.

I called you last week, you wasn't there.

- Buddy? - Walter! You want a drink, man?

Are you crazy? Your brother's been here looking for this boy.

His mother been calling from California.

Now the police gonna arrest you for stealing your nephew.

Sho nough!

And don't you have enough sense to call home?

You wanna get this man arrested just because of you.

This is my doing. What kinda drink do ya want? I'm gonna get a drink.

- Sit down. - Are you crazy?

- Are you crazy? - Wanna a pop?

I give up.

Drinking black coffee

And smoking cigarettes all night

I can't sleep

Now, Buddy, now you know you can't have that boy in here.

- But Pearl, he's a little man. - You gonna have the law on me.

- But listen, just one drink. - One drink!

- Just one more drink. - One! And you got to go.

Thank you, darling'

She's crazy. Drink up, boy!

Are you coming too?

Get your hands out my pocket. What's wrong with you?

What happened?

Put his hands in my pocket. I told him about that.

When I see he's got some sense, I'll give it back to him.

Having fun?

Now you've got a good reason to get saved.

As Buddy would say: "The people who played the blues are my kinda people".

Working up a sweat all night long

And jumping over my bed

Working up a sweat all night long

And jumping over my bed

He made me tell.

I don't know what possessed him to bring that boy in here.

Hey, brother.

Are you okay?

I'm fine.

Are you crazy?

What made you wanna say that?

This is the devil at work here.

What's gotten in to you? And what is he doing in this place?

Good Lord, you are crazy.

Mama called everybody. She got the police looking for you.

I can't tell mama I found Junior in a juke joint.

She'll never talk to you again.

Now I got to be dishonest.

This is how the devil works.

Buddy, you wrong.

I learned so much on that trip back home.

I never forgot a second of it.

I draw a lot from that time I spent with Buddy.

For years, Buddy was Buddy.

Years went by and Buddy left the book for me to finish.

I did in my own way.

Buddy ended up becoming a preacher...

like so many of the blues players.

I seen trouble

And I seen sin

I seen evil

In the heart of a man

I seen anger

In the eyes of a slave

I seen sorrow

At the side of a gray

I seen mother

Losing her child

I seen daughter

All broken divine

I seen lightning

From the hands of my Lord

I seen darkness come

From the edge of a soul

Give me freedom

Give me strength

- Give me freedom - So long and so many

I seen daughter

All broken divine

I seen lightning

From the hands of my Lord

I seen darkness come

From the edge of a soul

Give me freedom

Give me strength

Give me freedom

So long and so many

Give me freedom

Take my hand

Give me freedom

So long and so many

Give me freedom

Take my hand

On the highway To the promised land

I like music ever since I was a boy. I just like music.

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