All the Blues Gone
Photographs by Rex Miller
All
the Blues Gone returns to the roots of blues music
in the Mississippi delta and builds an intimate portrait of a
handful of characters whose lives are shaped by many of the same
trials and tribulations blues musicians faced in the 20’s
and 30’s. Through their words and Rex Miller’s photographs
we share in the pain, oppression and loss they have experienced,
as well as their strength and determination to turn these experiences
into powerful musical expression.
Rex Miller’s
photographic exhibition All the Blues Gone is part of a multimedia project that includes a book, CD soundtrack,
documentary film, and a non-profit educational foundation. The
result of a ten-year relationship with the people of the Mississippi
delta, the project stemmed from a New York photo shoot with blues
legend B.B. King. As Miller explains, “I expressed some
interest in his background, and [King] suggested I go to Mississippi
and see for myself. I was put in touch with Worth Long, a professor,
Civil Rights worker and Smithsonian folklorist. [Long] was about
to go to Mississippi, his car had just broken down, so he invited
me along if I would drive. I left the next day, and we spent an
incredible week together. He showed me his world.”
As described
in the synopsis of the book All the Blues Gone: Music and
Life in Mississippi by Rex Miller, “[these] magnificent
photographs honor the vitality of Delta life – the cotton
fields where blues began as hollers and chants; the porches where
blues deepened in the cool of evenings; the juke joints where
blues wail until morning; the infamous Parchman penitentiary,
where blues live in fear and hard labor. All the Blues
Gone is not a catalog of musical history. It is
a glimpse into the culture and traditions that created this music,
as seen through the lives of some of its practitioners.”
All the Blues Gone was exhibited at Through This Lens September 21 - October 16, 2007
we have signed gelatin-silver prints available for purchase
Buy the book at our store |