0:00:02 > 0:00:05MUSIC: An American Trilogy by Elvis Presley
0:00:05 > 0:00:08# Oh, I wish I was in the land of cotton
0:00:10 > 0:00:14# Old times there are not forgotten
0:00:14 > 0:00:17# Look away
0:00:17 > 0:00:19# Look away
0:00:20 > 0:00:24# Look away, Dixie Land. #
0:00:26 > 0:00:27When you think of American music,
0:00:27 > 0:00:30what you're really thinking about is the South.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33MUSIC: Midnight Train To Georgia by Gladys Knight
0:00:43 > 0:00:46Blues, soul, jazz and rock and roll...
0:00:46 > 0:00:48they all emerged from the swamps, mountains, cities
0:00:48 > 0:00:51and racial ferment of the southern states of America.
0:00:51 > 0:00:53- # He's leaving - Leaving
0:00:55 > 0:00:58# On that midnight train to Georgia
0:00:58 > 0:01:00# Leaving on the midnight train
0:01:00 > 0:01:02# Mm, yeah
0:01:02 > 0:01:05# Said he's going back... #
0:01:06 > 0:01:08I was born in Albany, Georgia -
0:01:08 > 0:01:11and I grew up in the post-civil rights era
0:01:11 > 0:01:14and even though segregation was officially over,
0:01:14 > 0:01:17there were racial barriers that still had to be contended with.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20MUSIC: Goin' Down South by RL Burnside
0:01:20 > 0:01:23# I'm going down south
0:01:23 > 0:01:27# I'm going down south Where the chilly wind don't blow... #
0:01:27 > 0:01:30By the time I swapped Georgia for Britain -
0:01:30 > 0:01:32when I left America -
0:01:32 > 0:01:33I hated the south.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39Now, I've returned to rediscover my homeland,
0:01:39 > 0:01:41through its most famous export.
0:01:41 > 0:01:43Via the songs of the south,
0:01:43 > 0:01:45I will take a look at where the south has been
0:01:45 > 0:01:46and try to get a sense -
0:01:46 > 0:01:50a little bit, probably, maybe - of where the south is going.
0:01:50 > 0:01:51Come with me.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23BLUES GUITAR PLAYS
0:02:23 > 0:02:25Sitting here, looking at this old river...
0:02:27 > 0:02:29..just rolling on...
0:02:31 > 0:02:33..slowly, down to the coast.
0:02:35 > 0:02:36Real slow.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41The Mississippi river -
0:02:41 > 0:02:43an icon of America.
0:02:43 > 0:02:45To me, it's Huckleberry Finn,
0:02:45 > 0:02:47river boat casinos and music.
0:02:49 > 0:02:53It is the embodiment of adventure, freedom and danger -
0:02:53 > 0:02:57I am lucky enough to be following it from Memphis to New Orleans,
0:02:57 > 0:02:59through the cradle of rock and roll, blues and jazz.
0:02:59 > 0:03:01MUSIC: Proud Mary by Ike and Tina Turner
0:03:01 > 0:03:03# If you come down to the river
0:03:03 > 0:03:06# I bet you gonna find some people who live
0:03:06 > 0:03:09# You don't have to worry if you've got no money
0:03:09 > 0:03:11# The people on the river are happy to give... #
0:03:11 > 0:03:14The Mississippi drains America.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16Its muddy water starts life as northern waste,
0:03:16 > 0:03:19but when the river reaches Memphis, the magic begins.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25MUSIC: Please Love Me by BB King
0:03:30 > 0:03:32The city that gave the world
0:03:32 > 0:03:34the blues of Bobby "Blue" Bland and BB King
0:03:34 > 0:03:37dines out on its musical heritage.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42And while its downtown isn't as gentrified as New York,
0:03:42 > 0:03:45the tale of the city's most famous thoroughfare
0:03:45 > 0:03:47is that of the typical black American inner city.
0:03:53 > 0:03:55This is Beale Street -
0:03:55 > 0:03:58the heart and soul of old Memphis.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01In the 1860s, a lot of black travelling musicians
0:04:01 > 0:04:03began to play right here on Beale Street -
0:04:03 > 0:04:05and by the 1900s,
0:04:05 > 0:04:09many clubs were frequented and owned by black Americans
0:04:09 > 0:04:12and it was in this heady atmosphere of booze, music
0:04:12 > 0:04:16and colourful characters that the Memphis blues was born.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19- MUSIC:- Haunted House by Memphis Minnie
0:04:19 > 0:04:23# Well, this house is haunted and I can't live here no more
0:04:26 > 0:04:32# Well, this house is haunted and I can't live here no more
0:04:34 > 0:04:37# Every night just about 12
0:04:37 > 0:04:40# I can hear something creeping across my floor... #
0:04:40 > 0:04:44The 1930s brought the Great Depression to Beale Street
0:04:44 > 0:04:46and it never left.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50By the 1960s, this entire street was almost completely boarded up.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54MUSIC: Furry Sings The Blues by Joni Mitchell
0:04:56 > 0:04:59# Sweeties' Snack Bar boarded up now
0:04:59 > 0:05:04# And Egles the Tailor and the Shine Boy's gone
0:05:04 > 0:05:07# Faded out with ragtime blues
0:05:09 > 0:05:15# Handy's cast in bronze and he's standing in a little park
0:05:15 > 0:05:19# With a trumpet in his hand like he's listening back... #
0:05:19 > 0:05:23Many attempts at urban renewal resulted in just this -
0:05:23 > 0:05:26the destruction of a black cultural centre
0:05:26 > 0:05:29and the emergence of a tourist theme park.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33It's what America does best, when it's done with portions of its past.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37It destroys it, evicts it, co-ops it
0:05:37 > 0:05:39and then re-sells part of it back to you.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42I don't know, the music and the food seems good.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46MUSIC: Born Under A Bad Sign by Albert King
0:05:52 > 0:05:55# Born under a bad sign
0:05:56 > 0:05:59# I been down since I begin to crawl... #
0:05:59 > 0:06:01Memphis is famous for Sun Records,
0:06:01 > 0:06:03the label that gave the world Elvis Presley,
0:06:03 > 0:06:05Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash -
0:06:05 > 0:06:08but in the midst of the segregation era,
0:06:08 > 0:06:10it was the city's other famous record label
0:06:10 > 0:06:13that arguably made a greater contribution to Memphis life.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16# ..trouble is my only friend
0:06:16 > 0:06:21# I been on my own ever since I was ten... #
0:06:24 > 0:06:26Sit down, gentlemen.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29Thank you, thank you so much. Please, I'm dying to know.
0:06:29 > 0:06:31Tell me what was it like working at Stax.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34What separated the sound of Stax's music,
0:06:34 > 0:06:37as opposed to other production labels?
0:06:37 > 0:06:40It was a sound, but it was an attitude, too, I think.
0:06:40 > 0:06:41It was an attitude...?
0:06:41 > 0:06:43To me, when I listen to that stuff,
0:06:43 > 0:06:46there's as much energy on those records
0:06:46 > 0:06:49as there is music and notes and all that.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52You take that energy away and it's just more music.
0:06:52 > 0:06:54But you put that energy back in there,
0:06:54 > 0:06:57you've got Eddie Floyd, you got Sam and Dave, you got Otis Redding,
0:06:57 > 0:07:02you got Booker T - and I think part of it was the feel and the attitude,
0:07:02 > 0:07:05because none of the artists really sounded alike.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08MUSIC: Knock On Wood by Eddie Floyd
0:07:10 > 0:07:13Knock On Wood - tell me us how came into being made.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16Well, we wrote that particular song at the Lorraine Hotel,
0:07:16 > 0:07:19like most of all of them -
0:07:19 > 0:07:22and that particular night, I remember it was stormy.
0:07:22 > 0:07:27It was. Came across that river from Arkansas, over into Tennessee.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34We sat there with pencil and a piece of paper, just our heads -
0:07:34 > 0:07:37and I don't even think I'd pulled a guitar yet -
0:07:37 > 0:07:39and we were talking about all of the superstitions -
0:07:39 > 0:07:41rabbit's feet, you know what I'm saying?
0:07:41 > 0:07:44And umbrellas - opening them up when it ain't raining inside...
0:07:44 > 0:07:47Walking under a ladder, black cats,
0:07:47 > 0:07:50stomping champagne glasses, throwing them in the fireplace,
0:07:50 > 0:07:52salt over the shoulder...
0:07:52 > 0:07:55Everything you could think of, that's been a superstition through the years
0:07:55 > 0:07:58and... I don't know, one of us came up with,
0:07:58 > 0:08:01"What do people do for good luck?"
0:08:01 > 0:08:04# ..on wood
0:08:04 > 0:08:05# Baby... #
0:08:09 > 0:08:12I gave him the idea of the part of thunder and lightning,
0:08:12 > 0:08:15"The way she loves me is frightening"... Oh, man...
0:08:15 > 0:08:18..I told him we was frightened of the thunder and lightning,
0:08:18 > 0:08:21my brother and I - and he said, "That's it".
0:08:21 > 0:08:24LAUGHTER
0:08:24 > 0:08:26He's a good listener.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31# It's like thunder, lightning
0:08:31 > 0:08:35# The way you love me is frightening
0:08:35 > 0:08:39# I better knock on wood
0:08:39 > 0:08:41# Yeah
0:08:41 > 0:08:45Come on, everybody, I'm going to knock, knock on wood, all right?
0:08:45 > 0:08:48Come on over here. # All right... #
0:08:48 > 0:08:50On April 4th 1968,
0:08:50 > 0:08:54in the very same motel that Eddie and Steve wrote Knock On Wood,
0:08:56 > 0:09:00Martin Luther King, leader of the civil rights movement, was murdered.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03MUSIC: Walk On By by Isaac Hayes
0:09:05 > 0:09:07Do you remember where you were when you heard King had been killed?
0:09:07 > 0:09:10I was here at Stax.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13Curfew by five or six o'clock, of course.
0:09:13 > 0:09:15I stayed at Booker's house...
0:09:15 > 0:09:18- Oh, did you?- Yeah, down the street.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21I had never been to his house before, but I couldn't make it home.
0:09:22 > 0:09:24First thing they do, once something...you know?
0:09:24 > 0:09:27They do a lockdown, we had to go lockdown.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31In the block, in the whole area, there was a grocery store next door,
0:09:31 > 0:09:33there was a restaurant across the street,
0:09:33 > 0:09:35there was a bakery up the street,
0:09:35 > 0:09:37a barber shop around the corner...
0:09:37 > 0:09:39They torched all those buildings.
0:09:39 > 0:09:41I remember Ray Meadows,
0:09:41 > 0:09:44who was a promotion guy for us and also a bodyguard for some people.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47He said he stood out in front of the studio and said,
0:09:47 > 0:09:50"Guys, you're not torching this one" and they passed it on by.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56# Walk on by
0:09:59 > 0:10:02# Walk on by... #
0:10:02 > 0:10:06Stax's reputation is such that it managed to do racial integration
0:10:06 > 0:10:08better than a lot of things and people around it.
0:10:08 > 0:10:10No matter who you were -
0:10:10 > 0:10:13whether you were a disc jockey, or somebody visiting,
0:10:13 > 0:10:16or a musician getting ready to go to work -
0:10:16 > 0:10:19when you walked through those doors, it was the same as going to church.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22It's like everything on the outside stayed on the outside -
0:10:22 > 0:10:24you didn't bring that inside.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27Everyone was in there for the same reason, on the same level -
0:10:27 > 0:10:30to try to get a hit record. That's what it was about.
0:10:30 > 0:10:32LAUGHTER
0:10:33 > 0:10:36MUSIC: My Home Is In The Delta by Muddy Waters
0:10:36 > 0:10:41# Well, my home's in the delta
0:10:41 > 0:10:45# Way out on that farmer's road... #
0:10:45 > 0:10:47In the 19th and early 20th century,
0:10:47 > 0:10:49the Mississippi Delta was a booming region
0:10:49 > 0:10:51that thrived on cotton farming.
0:10:54 > 0:10:58This area has been described as "the most southern place on Earth".
0:10:58 > 0:11:00Being here is like stepping back in time.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07When I go back to Mississippi down there,
0:11:07 > 0:11:09I feel drunk with the atmosphere.
0:11:09 > 0:11:12It just roll over me like a wave, you know?
0:11:12 > 0:11:14It's thick in the air.
0:11:14 > 0:11:16So, if people go down to these places
0:11:16 > 0:11:19and feel where that music come from -
0:11:19 > 0:11:21haille on, my brother.
0:11:21 > 0:11:25MUSIC: High Water Everywhere by Charley Patton
0:11:30 > 0:11:33I feel like if people know or feel what that maybe felt like,
0:11:33 > 0:11:36then when they listen to whatever they listen to -
0:11:36 > 0:11:38hip-hop, or anything -
0:11:38 > 0:11:41they see the birth of it, cos...
0:11:42 > 0:11:46..ain't nothing that got rhythm, didn't come from that area.
0:11:46 > 0:11:47Ain't nothing.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53Mississippi is famously the home of the delta blues.
0:11:53 > 0:11:55Its grand-pappy was Charley Patton.
0:11:58 > 0:12:00He was just a rock star.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03Man, he played behind his... Put the guitar behind his head,
0:12:03 > 0:12:06played down...jumped on the tables...
0:12:06 > 0:12:10So all this stuff that we think is like "new" -
0:12:10 > 0:12:12that was going on in the '20s, man.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35# I ain't gonna tell nobody what
0:12:35 > 0:12:38# '34 have done for me
0:12:44 > 0:12:47# I ain't gonna tell nobody what
0:12:47 > 0:12:50# '34 have done for me
0:12:55 > 0:12:57# Christmas rolled up
0:12:57 > 0:13:01# I was broke as I could be. #
0:13:06 > 0:13:08You help me understand some things?
0:13:08 > 0:13:10- I'll do my best.- I appreciate it.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13Help me understand Charley Patton -
0:13:13 > 0:13:16what is his connection with Dockery farms?
0:13:16 > 0:13:18This is where he lived.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22Round here in the delta, there was a lot of land that needed clearing -
0:13:22 > 0:13:25lot of men that was needed for work,
0:13:25 > 0:13:28so they came out here in droves, they hired them in droves.
0:13:28 > 0:13:32And his family was one of the ones that come out here.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35He got here about the age of six, if I ain't mistaken.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39All his rearing, all his learning, what he became - he got here.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43Mm-hmm. What's his connection to blues, why does he matter?
0:13:44 > 0:13:47Charley Patton matters,
0:13:47 > 0:13:50not only because of his influences,
0:13:50 > 0:13:53but also who he was and how he was.
0:13:53 > 0:13:58He was one of the realest people who played this kind of music
0:13:58 > 0:13:59that you could get.
0:13:59 > 0:14:03He didn't play in Chicago. He didn't play uptown.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06He played here, where people who worked hard was,
0:14:06 > 0:14:10people who knew, who made their living with their hands
0:14:10 > 0:14:12and with their mind and with their back
0:14:12 > 0:14:16and he had to find the soundtrack to accompany them -
0:14:16 > 0:14:18and he did a good job of it -
0:14:18 > 0:14:20so good, that he got to make a lot of records.
0:14:20 > 0:14:24Tell me about the song, '34 Blues. What does it mean? What is it about?
0:14:24 > 0:14:30'34 Blues is about the year 1934
0:14:30 > 0:14:31and what it meant to Charley Patton.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34'34 wasn't a good year for Charley Patton, evidently -
0:14:34 > 0:14:36as the song says.
0:14:36 > 0:14:37REGINALD LAUGHS
0:14:37 > 0:14:41He talks about this place, the Dockery's plantation.
0:14:42 > 0:14:47He got chased off of Dockery's plantation that year - his home.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50# They run me from Will Dockery's
0:14:50 > 0:14:53# Took me on another job... #
0:14:53 > 0:14:571934, he gets kicked off for have...
0:14:57 > 0:15:01How do you say? Maybe not quite a game of jack in the bushes,
0:15:01 > 0:15:06but somebody's missus hanged around where he was hanging around.
0:15:06 > 0:15:08Or something of the sort.
0:15:08 > 0:15:10# Come and told Papa Charley
0:15:10 > 0:15:13# "I don't want you hangin' round on my job no more" #
0:15:15 > 0:15:18There's an old Indian saying that says,
0:15:18 > 0:15:21some places, the music is so thick in the trees
0:15:21 > 0:15:23that you can hold up your instrument and it'll play itself -
0:15:23 > 0:15:26and the music of this place was born right out of here.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29It wasn't fashioned, it wasn't created for somebody to like -
0:15:29 > 0:15:31it came up and it was liked.
0:15:31 > 0:15:34One of the few spiritual things you can connect to
0:15:34 > 0:15:36in the physical world is music -
0:15:36 > 0:15:39and this music rose up out of here and came out of people.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46# Oh, it may bring sorrow
0:15:46 > 0:15:48# And it may bring tears
0:15:51 > 0:15:54# And it may bring sorrow
0:15:54 > 0:15:57# And it may bring tears
0:16:00 > 0:16:02# Oh, Lord have mercy
0:16:02 > 0:16:06# Let me see another year. #
0:16:14 > 0:16:17MUSIC: Moon Going Down by Seasick Steve
0:16:36 > 0:16:39# Oh, that moon going down baby,
0:16:39 > 0:16:41# Clarksdale sun's about to shine
0:16:43 > 0:16:46# Yeah, that moon going down, baby,
0:16:46 > 0:16:49# Clarksdale sun's about to shine
0:16:51 > 0:16:54# Rosetta Henry told me
0:16:54 > 0:16:56# Don't want you hanging round no more. #
0:16:56 > 0:16:58In the early 20th century,
0:16:58 > 0:17:01Clarksdale was known as "the gold button in the cotton belt".
0:17:01 > 0:17:05But the city gradually emptied following the Great Depression,
0:17:05 > 0:17:08part of a migration that saw six million blacks go north,
0:17:08 > 0:17:09in search of work.
0:17:11 > 0:17:13Clarksdale never recovered
0:17:13 > 0:17:16and today, Mississippi is the poorest state in the union.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23The river has worked its magic on Clarksdale.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26It oozes with famous musical names.
0:17:26 > 0:17:30John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters and Sam Cooke were born in the area.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36You know, Clarksdale? So many people come from there -
0:17:36 > 0:17:39from that little area around there -
0:17:39 > 0:17:42and it used to be a kind of wealthy town,
0:17:42 > 0:17:44when the cotton was doing good.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47I like walking through the town, cos it's like...
0:17:47 > 0:17:48all the old beat-up buildings.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51You kind of can imagine what it was like,
0:17:51 > 0:17:53back in the '30s and stuff, you know?
0:18:08 > 0:18:11# I was down in Sunflower
0:18:11 > 0:18:13# With my face full of frowns. #
0:18:22 > 0:18:24MUSIC: Cross Road Blues by Robert Johnson
0:18:24 > 0:18:28Clarksdale also lays claim to being the site of a dubious myth.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34# I went to the crossroad
0:18:34 > 0:18:38# Fell down on my knees... #
0:18:38 > 0:18:42This is the site of the blues' most enduring legend -
0:18:42 > 0:18:43the crossroads.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46# I went to the crossroad
0:18:46 > 0:18:49# Fell down on my knees... #
0:18:49 > 0:18:51As the legend has it,
0:18:51 > 0:18:55Robert Johnson was instructed to bring his guitar here at midnight,
0:18:55 > 0:18:57for a meeting with the devil himself.
0:18:57 > 0:18:59The devil did meet him.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02The devil tuned his guitar, played a few tunes
0:19:02 > 0:19:04and then, in exchange for his soul,
0:19:04 > 0:19:06Robert Johnson was supposed to be granted
0:19:06 > 0:19:09the gift of blues immortality.
0:19:09 > 0:19:11Well, I don't know what Robert Johnson got,
0:19:11 > 0:19:13or anybody else who made the blues here,
0:19:13 > 0:19:15but the devil didn't keep much for himself.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18What he got in return, it seems, was business -
0:19:18 > 0:19:19American business.
0:19:21 > 0:19:22But you know what?
0:19:22 > 0:19:25Mississippi is one of the poorest states in the union.
0:19:25 > 0:19:27If a little blues keeps some dollars flowing in here,
0:19:27 > 0:19:29I ain't going to get the blues about it.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35# Lord, that I'm standin' at the crossroad, babe
0:19:35 > 0:19:38# I believe I'm sinkin' down... #
0:19:38 > 0:19:41It was here, just 17 years ago,
0:19:41 > 0:19:43that I made a deal with the devil,
0:19:43 > 0:19:46that in exchange for my soul, he would let me come to England.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52MUSIC: Little Red Rooster by Howlin' Wolf
0:19:52 > 0:19:54# I am a little red rooster
0:19:56 > 0:20:00# Too late to close the gate... #
0:20:01 > 0:20:04How do I feel about the blues?
0:20:04 > 0:20:07I think the blues are a good thing. I think they're necessary.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10However, I think it is a misnomer
0:20:10 > 0:20:12that black people invented the blues.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17I think black people transcribed the blues,
0:20:17 > 0:20:19but I think white people invented the blues.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26Black people didn't have the blues, until...
0:20:26 > 0:20:28Well...you know?
0:20:45 > 0:20:47Life was hard for rural black workers,
0:20:47 > 0:20:49but not without some respite.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52In ramshackle buildings, out of the eye of the authorities,
0:20:52 > 0:20:56juke joints offered moonshine, dancing and the chance of romancing
0:20:56 > 0:20:58to relaxing field hands.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01Most of these barrelhouses have long gone,
0:21:01 > 0:21:02but deep in Merigold,
0:21:02 > 0:21:06one farmer has been running a joint for over 50 years.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10On Thursday nights, William Seaberry is Po' Monkey.
0:21:10 > 0:21:12Now, we're standing here
0:21:12 > 0:21:16in one of the most authentic juke joints going around.
0:21:16 > 0:21:17Tell me, in the best words you can,
0:21:17 > 0:21:20what is a juke joint, for someone who ain't never heard of one
0:21:20 > 0:21:21or know what one is?
0:21:21 > 0:21:23Well, ever since I been here - I been here 58 years,
0:21:23 > 0:21:26I tell you everyone that comes here, they really enjoy themselves.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29All the guys with their breeches falling off and caps back,
0:21:29 > 0:21:32this is not the place for them - this is a blues house only.
0:21:32 > 0:21:34Say, you know a lot of people like that bomp-bomp music.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37That bomp-bomp music's not the score here.
0:21:38 > 0:21:40So coming in with your breeches falling all off your ass
0:21:40 > 0:21:42and your caps all back, this is not the place.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45- To hell with that bomp-bomp music! - That's right.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49What makes you run this one night a week, rather than every night?
0:21:49 > 0:21:52Well, the thing about it, I work on a farm - I drive tractors every day.
0:21:52 > 0:21:54- You work on a farm...- Yeah. - ..and then you do this?
0:21:54 > 0:21:55Yeah, I'm a tractor driver.
0:21:55 > 0:21:57That's a hell of a man, sir. That's a hell of a man.
0:21:57 > 0:22:01- Mr Po' Monkey...- Yes, sir. - ..it's getting about dark, it's getting time for you to start.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04I'm going to go in and enjoy a drink in your place, if that's all right?
0:22:04 > 0:22:06- It will be fine, fine. - Lead the way, sir.- OK.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09MUSIC: Let's Get High by Rosco Gordon
0:22:09 > 0:22:12# We're gonna have a real good time
0:22:13 > 0:22:15# Honey, let's get high
0:22:15 > 0:22:18# We're gonna have a real good time
0:22:20 > 0:22:23# We're gonna start out on whiskey
0:22:23 > 0:22:25# We'll end up drinking wine... #
0:22:25 > 0:22:27I've not met Frank. What's happening, Frank?
0:22:27 > 0:22:31Frank looks like he'd be lifting logs - for fun!
0:22:31 > 0:22:32THEY LAUGH
0:22:32 > 0:22:35# Let's get real drunk
0:22:35 > 0:22:38# Let's let it be our ruin
0:22:38 > 0:22:40# Whoa!
0:22:40 > 0:22:42# Let's start out on whiskey
0:22:42 > 0:22:45# Let's let it be our ruin... #
0:22:46 > 0:22:49This is just like the juke joints I've been to in Georgia,
0:22:49 > 0:22:50except back in Georgia,
0:22:50 > 0:22:54they're set deeper in the woods, to evade detection.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57But it don't seem like you hiding from nobody.
0:22:57 > 0:22:58I ain't got to hide from nobody.
0:22:58 > 0:23:00REGINALD LAUGHS
0:23:00 > 0:23:03You've been in the same place for a long time.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06REGINALD LAUGHS
0:23:06 > 0:23:08This is my toast, to Po' Monkey's.
0:23:08 > 0:23:10Oh, yeah.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21I was born in Chickasaw County.
0:23:21 > 0:23:22When I was six,
0:23:22 > 0:23:25we moved to another region in Mississippi called the Delta
0:23:25 > 0:23:27and we lived between two rivers -
0:23:27 > 0:23:28one was the Yazoo...
0:23:30 > 0:23:32..and the other was...
0:23:33 > 0:23:34..the Tallahatchie.
0:23:37 > 0:23:44# It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day
0:23:46 > 0:23:53# I was out choppin' cotton and my brother was balin' hay
0:23:55 > 0:24:01# And at dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat
0:24:03 > 0:24:10# And Mama hollered out the back door "y'all remember to wipe your feet"
0:24:11 > 0:24:17# And then she said "I got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge"
0:24:20 > 0:24:26# "Today Billie Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"
0:24:26 > 0:24:30Bobbie Gentry's Ode To Billie Joe is a southern gothic tale, in which
0:24:30 > 0:24:34a terrible secret returns to haunt the present in Money, Mississippi.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37The song starts with the suicide of Billie Joe
0:24:37 > 0:24:39and then speculates on the cause.
0:24:42 > 0:24:48# "He said he saw a girl that looked a lot like you up on Choctaw Ridge
0:24:50 > 0:24:53# "And she and Billie Joe was throwing somethin'
0:24:53 > 0:24:55# "Off the Tallahatchie Bridge..." #
0:24:55 > 0:24:58The secret of what was actually thrown into the river
0:24:58 > 0:25:00will never be known.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03It's safe with Bobbie Gentry, who avoids the limelight these days.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08Ode To Billie Joe was written in 1967
0:25:08 > 0:25:11and true to the curse of southern gothic,
0:25:11 > 0:25:14the bridge in Money, Mississippi collapsed in 1972
0:25:14 > 0:25:15and was rebuilt.
0:25:17 > 0:25:23# And me, I spend a lot of time pickin' flowers up on Choctaw Ridge
0:25:25 > 0:25:30# Drop them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge. #
0:25:34 > 0:25:37This is the Tallahatchie bridge
0:25:37 > 0:25:40and while it's not clear what item got tossed over into it
0:25:40 > 0:25:43at the end of the song Ode To Billie Joe,
0:25:43 > 0:25:46the Tallahatchie river has released one grim deposit.
0:25:49 > 0:25:51# Twas down in Mississippi
0:25:53 > 0:25:57# Not so long ago
0:25:57 > 0:26:02# When a young boy from Chicago town
0:26:02 > 0:26:05# Stepped through a Southern door... #
0:26:05 > 0:26:09In 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till, from Chicago -
0:26:09 > 0:26:11a black boy visiting his grandfather right here in Money -
0:26:11 > 0:26:14whistled at a white woman in Bryant's grocery store
0:26:14 > 0:26:16and later that night,
0:26:16 > 0:26:19several white men came to his grandfather's house at gunpoint
0:26:19 > 0:26:21and took the boy away, beat him to death
0:26:21 > 0:26:23and threw him in this very same river.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00The trial that followed was a sham.
0:27:00 > 0:27:04The all-white jury took 67 minutes to acquit the grocery store owner
0:27:04 > 0:27:05and his half-brother.
0:27:16 > 0:27:18Protected by the double-jeopardy rule,
0:27:18 > 0:27:22the pair later admitted that they killed Till in a magazine article.
0:27:26 > 0:27:28That story was told to me as a young boy,
0:27:28 > 0:27:30often like a cautionary tale
0:27:30 > 0:27:33for young black boys in the Deep South...
0:27:33 > 0:27:34and probably because of it,
0:27:34 > 0:27:37I will never, ever be able to stop saying the word "ma'am".
0:27:40 > 0:27:42MUSIC: Shake 'Em On Down by RL Burnside
0:27:56 > 0:27:58Not all blues is the same.
0:27:58 > 0:28:00I've come back upstream to the hill country,
0:28:00 > 0:28:04to explore a very distinct style to that practised in the delta.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12I'm at the North Mississippi Hill Country Blues Picnic.
0:28:14 > 0:28:16Nothing says "blues" like a picnic.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19I'm about to go and speak to the grandson of one of my blues heroes,
0:28:19 > 0:28:21who is at this festival.
0:28:24 > 0:28:26# See my jumper Lord
0:28:26 > 0:28:28# Hangin' out on the line
0:28:38 > 0:28:40# See my jumper, Lord
0:28:40 > 0:28:43# Hangin' out on the line
0:28:51 > 0:28:52# Know by that
0:28:52 > 0:28:55# Something on my mind. #
0:28:59 > 0:29:02Cedric Burnside, my name's Reginald Hunter. Thank you for talking to me.
0:29:02 > 0:29:04It's all good, man. Thanks for having me.
0:29:04 > 0:29:07You're the grandson of Mr RL Burnside
0:29:07 > 0:29:10and I know you're an accomplished musician in your own right.
0:29:10 > 0:29:12Could you please tell us about Mr RL Burnside?
0:29:12 > 0:29:15- He's one of my favourites. - All right, man.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18Well, I have to say, he was unique.
0:29:18 > 0:29:21You know, definitely his own guy.
0:29:21 > 0:29:26He was the type of guy, he would give you his shirt off his back
0:29:26 > 0:29:28but he didn't like to take no smack either, you know?
0:29:28 > 0:29:30LAUGHTER
0:29:35 > 0:29:38I just knew him for being that musician that
0:29:38 > 0:29:42everybody come to the house, just to hear, you know?
0:29:42 > 0:29:46On the weekends, if the club was closed, they would come to the house
0:29:46 > 0:29:49and they would be right there in a little, small room.
0:29:49 > 0:29:51Might hold 12 people,
0:29:51 > 0:29:56but it'd be about 30 people trying to crowd up in that small room!
0:29:56 > 0:30:00So I just knew him for always being that guy.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03I'm dying to know - what kind of music did he hate?
0:30:03 > 0:30:04LAUGHTER
0:30:04 > 0:30:08Anything that would make him go, "Boy, turn that off!"
0:30:08 > 0:30:12Well, hip-hop... He didn't like a whole lot of hip-hop.
0:30:12 > 0:30:15But every now and then, he would have a good side
0:30:15 > 0:30:17and he'd be like, "Hey, go ahead and play it."
0:30:17 > 0:30:20He don't be wanting to hear it, but he'd just be nice to us,
0:30:20 > 0:30:23because he knows that's what we all want to hear, every now and then.
0:30:23 > 0:30:25The old timers, they called it old Chinese music.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28He'd be like "that hippity-hop" that "hip-hip-hoppity hip-hop,
0:30:28 > 0:30:29"I don't want to hear that."
0:30:29 > 0:30:31LAUGHTER
0:30:33 > 0:30:36Would you explain the difference between hill country blues
0:30:36 > 0:30:39and say, delta blues?
0:30:39 > 0:30:43Yeah, delta have that straight-going beat...
0:30:43 > 0:30:48and you'll have the changes here and there...
0:30:48 > 0:30:52but in hill country blues, you might not have any changes.
0:30:52 > 0:30:54You know what I'm saying?
0:30:54 > 0:30:55And then, when you have a change,
0:30:55 > 0:30:57you better know where that change is coming from,
0:30:57 > 0:31:00because they might throw it in there anywhere.
0:31:00 > 0:31:02So we call it "feel music".
0:31:02 > 0:31:05It's music that... You can't really write this music.
0:31:05 > 0:31:08It's not no 16 bars, no 12 bars -
0:31:08 > 0:31:11it's just feel music. It comes from the heart, you know?
0:31:14 > 0:31:19# Whoa, Miss Maybelle Let me be your hoppin' frog
0:31:19 > 0:31:23# Drink by the water Sleep in a hollow log
0:31:23 > 0:31:28# Oh, Miss Maybelle Let me be your hoppin' frog... #
0:31:29 > 0:31:31Come on then, come on through.
0:31:33 > 0:31:35I've got a face that's hard to forget.
0:31:39 > 0:31:42- I'm just going to come out and say this...- Come on out and say it.
0:31:42 > 0:31:45- You're a young cat, playing this kind of music...- Yeah.
0:31:45 > 0:31:47..and when you hear about the blues
0:31:47 > 0:31:51and people with the names that kick out, it be a lot of old timers.
0:31:51 > 0:31:54What does it mean to you, being a young cat, playing this music now?
0:31:54 > 0:31:57Reg, I'm going to have to explain to you, man.
0:31:57 > 0:31:59Real true, man.
0:31:59 > 0:32:03# See that moonlight shinin' through them trees... #
0:32:03 > 0:32:05As I came up, it was just in my blood.
0:32:05 > 0:32:07I just played it and I just did it, you know?
0:32:07 > 0:32:12I got into my early 20s and people come up to me crying,
0:32:12 > 0:32:15telling me how much they enjoyed it and how much helped them.
0:32:15 > 0:32:19It wasn't till then, I realised and it dawned on me
0:32:19 > 0:32:22that this was some special music.
0:32:22 > 0:32:24Right now, I wouldn't do nothing else.
0:32:24 > 0:32:27I'm a hill country man and I'm going to die a hill country man.
0:32:31 > 0:32:34Anybody can have the blues,
0:32:34 > 0:32:37but can't anybody can't live the blues.
0:32:37 > 0:32:40Cedric Burnside, I am glad you exist.
0:32:40 > 0:32:41Hey, thanks for having me, man!
0:32:43 > 0:32:48# Miss Maybelle must wanna speak to me. #
0:33:02 > 0:33:05These are my roots - the blues.
0:33:05 > 0:33:08When I came to England, I was ashamed of this,
0:33:08 > 0:33:11but now I am so this and this is so me.
0:33:11 > 0:33:14It is how to say heavy truths,
0:33:14 > 0:33:15with just a few words.
0:33:17 > 0:33:20MUSIC: Frankie And Albert by Mississippi John Hurt
0:33:20 > 0:33:21# Frankie was a good girl
0:33:21 > 0:33:24# Every boy knows
0:33:24 > 0:33:27# Paid 100 for Albert's suit of clothes
0:33:27 > 0:33:31# He's a man and he done her wrong. #
0:33:31 > 0:33:35One of the things I forgot about people in the south -
0:33:35 > 0:33:40we are encouraged to expound on a love of gratitude.
0:33:40 > 0:33:42If you do something for us, or give us something
0:33:42 > 0:33:45that we feel really enriches our lives,
0:33:45 > 0:33:47then we have this thing in us that goes,
0:33:47 > 0:33:50"I'm your friend, for the rest of this life.
0:33:50 > 0:33:54"You know, you don't have to be my friend, but I am yours.
0:33:54 > 0:33:55"Deal with it."
0:33:55 > 0:33:57MUSIC: Mississippi Goddam by Nina Simone
0:33:57 > 0:33:59# Alabama's got me so upset
0:33:59 > 0:34:02# Tennessee made me lose my rest
0:34:02 > 0:34:07# And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam
0:34:09 > 0:34:11# Alabama's got me so upset
0:34:11 > 0:34:15# Tennessee made me lose my rest
0:34:15 > 0:34:19# And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam. #
0:34:19 > 0:34:23This is a former plantation in Natchez, Mississippi.
0:34:23 > 0:34:27Plantations and slavery is how the South built its wealth.
0:34:27 > 0:34:30Before the civil war, Natchez boasted more millionaires per capita
0:34:30 > 0:34:33than any other city in the union.
0:34:33 > 0:34:34Natchez, Mississippi
0:34:34 > 0:34:38is also the home of the 20th century's first great musical -
0:34:38 > 0:34:40Showboat.
0:34:40 > 0:34:44# There's an ol' man called the Mississippi
0:34:44 > 0:34:48# That's the ol' man that I'd like to be
0:34:48 > 0:34:53# What does he care if the world's got troubles?
0:34:53 > 0:34:59# What does he care if the land ain't free?
0:35:00 > 0:35:03# Ol' man river
0:35:03 > 0:35:05# That ol' man river
0:35:05 > 0:35:08# He must know something
0:35:08 > 0:35:11# But don't say nothin'
0:35:11 > 0:35:14# He just keeps rollin'
0:35:14 > 0:35:19# He keeps on rollin' along
0:35:21 > 0:35:26# Don't plant taters, he don't plant cotton
0:35:26 > 0:35:32# Them that plants them is soon forgotten... #
0:35:33 > 0:35:36Natchez was known for growing a lot of cotton
0:35:36 > 0:35:39and most of your boats came through here and all your...
0:35:39 > 0:35:41You might say, "riff raff", uh...
0:35:41 > 0:35:45your gamblers, women of the night,
0:35:45 > 0:35:47they had clubs down here.
0:35:47 > 0:35:49A little of everything happened down here.
0:35:49 > 0:35:53And it was very busy, shipping cotton and stuff...
0:35:53 > 0:35:57The river was the only means they had of shipping stuff out.
0:35:57 > 0:36:00# Darkies all work on the Mississippi,
0:36:00 > 0:36:03# Darkies all work while the white folks play
0:36:03 > 0:36:06# Pullin' those boats from the dawn to sunset,
0:36:06 > 0:36:10# Gettin' no rest till the judgment day. #
0:36:13 > 0:36:17All day long, lifting bales of cotton, picking up barges -
0:36:17 > 0:36:19it was just work. In the song, they were saying,
0:36:19 > 0:36:22"Old man river doesn't have any mercy on me."
0:36:22 > 0:36:26"I'm tired of living", but he said, "I'm scared of dying".
0:36:26 > 0:36:28And old man river - it doesn't bother it -
0:36:28 > 0:36:30it just keeps rolling all along.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33It just keeps rolling right along.
0:36:33 > 0:36:37MUSIC: Born On The Bayou by Creedence Clearwater Revival
0:36:41 > 0:36:44# Wish I were back on the Bayou... #
0:36:44 > 0:36:48Louisiana is the end of the South.
0:36:48 > 0:36:50In the 17th century, it was French territory
0:36:50 > 0:36:54and its remoteness has allowed ancient cultures to mingle.
0:36:54 > 0:36:58# ..chooglin' on down to New Orleans
0:36:59 > 0:37:01# Born on the Bayou
0:37:01 > 0:37:05# Born on the Bayou... #
0:37:05 > 0:37:08The Creole were originally descendants of French settlers,
0:37:08 > 0:37:10but the term grew to include black people -
0:37:10 > 0:37:12both free and enslaved.
0:37:12 > 0:37:15Today, the Louisiana Creole are famed for their cuisine
0:37:15 > 0:37:17and zydeco music.
0:37:28 > 0:37:31HE SINGS IN CREOLE
0:37:47 > 0:37:50- You got some fried catfish... - Is this crawfish?
0:37:50 > 0:37:54You got catfish here, you got crawfish...you've got some shrimp.
0:37:54 > 0:37:57- Little bit of everything. - I'm going to scoop up some crawfish
0:37:57 > 0:37:59and hope ain't nobody going to say anything.
0:37:59 > 0:38:01Ain't going to say nothing! LAUGHTER
0:38:01 > 0:38:04This is part of our culture, this is what we're known for -
0:38:04 > 0:38:08the food and music, that's what we are all about -
0:38:08 > 0:38:09Southern hospitality.
0:38:09 > 0:38:12Tell me, what's the difference between a Cajun and a Creole person?
0:38:12 > 0:38:15You've got to remember that you're talking to somebody...
0:38:15 > 0:38:16I barely know in a song or in food -
0:38:16 > 0:38:19I damn sure wouldn't know in a person. What's the difference?
0:38:19 > 0:38:21Well, make a long story short,
0:38:21 > 0:38:26a Cajun is basically a white, French-speaking American in Louisiana
0:38:26 > 0:38:29and a Creole is a black French-speaking American,
0:38:29 > 0:38:30here in Louisiana.
0:38:30 > 0:38:33- It's that simple? - It's that simple.
0:38:34 > 0:38:36HE SINGS IN CREOLE
0:38:44 > 0:38:47Now, tell me - what is zydeco?
0:38:47 > 0:38:51Zydeco? The word "zydeco" actually means "snap bean".
0:38:51 > 0:38:54That's exactly what it means - zydeco.
0:38:54 > 0:38:58And we call our music "zydeco music" because it's snappy -
0:38:58 > 0:39:02- it's up-tempo and has that snap to it...- Ah, snap bean music.
0:39:02 > 0:39:04That's right.
0:39:04 > 0:39:06Back in the days, the old folks,
0:39:06 > 0:39:08when they would speak French, they would say,
0:39:08 > 0:39:10"Comment sont les haricots?" - How's the zydeco?
0:39:10 > 0:39:14and some people would respond, "Les haricots ne sont pas sales."
0:39:14 > 0:39:16"The snap beans are not salty",
0:39:16 > 0:39:19- meaning things are not too good. - Oh, man.
0:39:19 > 0:39:21Or they say, "les haricots sont sales" - they salty -
0:39:21 > 0:39:23everything is going good.
0:39:23 > 0:39:25Like right now, if I asked you "Comment sont les haricots?"
0:39:25 > 0:39:29You would say, "Il sont sales", cos everything is going good for you, right now.
0:39:29 > 0:39:31- Il sont sales?- Yeah!- Il sont sales.
0:39:31 > 0:39:33LAUGHTER
0:39:36 > 0:39:41So, is it fair to say that zydeco is like...
0:39:41 > 0:39:42- Creole-based...- Very much.
0:39:42 > 0:39:47..but then, after that, it just adds every influence around it?
0:39:47 > 0:39:50Zydeco is definitely Creole-based,
0:39:50 > 0:39:53but it's just jacked up a couple of notches.
0:39:53 > 0:39:57It's kind of like, we can cook rice and you'll eat it,
0:39:57 > 0:39:59but then, if you add a bit of salt to your rice,
0:39:59 > 0:40:01it makes it taste a little bit different,
0:40:01 > 0:40:03but it's still rice.
0:40:03 > 0:40:06And that's kind of how zydeco music and Creole music is -
0:40:06 > 0:40:10- they're very much... Very similar. - Oh, man - the heat on the outside
0:40:10 > 0:40:12and this heat that I'm putting on the inside...
0:40:12 > 0:40:13The heat is on!
0:40:13 > 0:40:15I am one cooked dude now, man!
0:40:15 > 0:40:17You're well done!
0:40:17 > 0:40:19Like I said, welcome to Louisiana.
0:40:27 > 0:40:29All right?
0:40:31 > 0:40:34MUSIC: Polk Salad Annie by Tony Joe White
0:40:34 > 0:40:36# Down in Louisiana
0:40:36 > 0:40:40# Where the alligators grow so mean
0:40:40 > 0:40:45# There lived a girl that I swear to the world
0:40:45 > 0:40:47# Made the alligators look tame
0:40:47 > 0:40:50# Polk salad Annie... #
0:40:51 > 0:40:54When I think of Louisiana, I think of spiciness,
0:40:54 > 0:40:55I think of the French,
0:40:55 > 0:40:57I think of Louis Armstrong,
0:40:57 > 0:41:00I think of hurricanes,
0:41:00 > 0:41:03I think of corrupt politicians,
0:41:03 > 0:41:06I think of colourful law enforcement -
0:41:06 > 0:41:08that's what I think of, when I think of Louisiana...
0:41:08 > 0:41:11Oh, and most of all,
0:41:11 > 0:41:12I think of voodoo.
0:41:12 > 0:41:14MUSIC: Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya by Dr John
0:41:14 > 0:41:17# They call me Dr John,
0:41:17 > 0:41:19# Known as the Night Tripper
0:41:19 > 0:41:23# Got my sizzling Gris-Gris in my hand... #
0:41:27 > 0:41:30Malcolm John Rebennack is musical ambassador for New Orleans.
0:41:32 > 0:41:34He belongs to a prestigious line of piano greats
0:41:34 > 0:41:37that includes Fats Domino and Professor Longhair.
0:41:39 > 0:41:43Mac is better known by his voodoo-inspired alter ego, Dr John.
0:41:46 > 0:41:49If somebody was coming to New Orleans for the first time
0:41:49 > 0:41:53and they wanted to put their finger on one thing
0:41:53 > 0:41:55that would make them begin to understand
0:41:55 > 0:41:58what the New Orleans vibe is about,
0:41:58 > 0:42:01what would you recommend that they put their finger on, in New Orleans?
0:42:01 > 0:42:04I say this... Jelly Roll Morton said this first...
0:42:06 > 0:42:09It ain't New Orleans, if it ain't got that Latin tinge.
0:42:09 > 0:42:10That Latin tinge?
0:42:10 > 0:42:15Cos it's kind of the top end of the Caribbean,
0:42:15 > 0:42:17whether it's Haitian,
0:42:17 > 0:42:20or whether it's Dominican Republic,
0:42:20 > 0:42:23or whether it's Cuba,
0:42:23 > 0:42:27this was just the outpost for all of that, back in the game.
0:42:28 > 0:42:32# I see trees of green
0:42:34 > 0:42:36# Red roses too
0:42:39 > 0:42:41# I see them bloom
0:42:43 > 0:42:45# For me and you
0:42:45 > 0:42:48# And I think to myself
0:42:51 > 0:42:54# What a wonderful world. #
0:42:56 > 0:42:59Tell us about the other flavours, that makes New Orleans -
0:42:59 > 0:43:02and New Orleans music - what it is.
0:43:02 > 0:43:08I think that one of the things that is off the hook here
0:43:08 > 0:43:12that makes something different happen is...
0:43:12 > 0:43:16There is no-one way...
0:43:16 > 0:43:19or two ways to do anything -
0:43:19 > 0:43:23and I think that spiritually,
0:43:23 > 0:43:26that opens a lot of doors.
0:43:27 > 0:43:30# I see skies of blue
0:43:33 > 0:43:35# Clouds of white
0:43:37 > 0:43:40# The bright blessed days
0:43:40 > 0:43:42# The dark sacred nights
0:43:43 > 0:43:45# And I think to myself
0:43:48 > 0:43:51# What a wonderful world. #
0:43:54 > 0:43:57Louis Armstrong is the godfather of New Orleans jazz.
0:44:03 > 0:44:07Is it fair to call New Orleans music "southern music"?
0:44:07 > 0:44:10Take a song like What A Wonderful World -
0:44:10 > 0:44:13what makes that a southern song, if it is at all?
0:44:13 > 0:44:15I don't even know if it is, or not.
0:44:15 > 0:44:17You know what I do know?
0:44:17 > 0:44:20I know that Louis Armstrong recorded it -
0:44:20 > 0:44:22that's what I do know.
0:44:22 > 0:44:23And he's from the South.
0:44:23 > 0:44:26And he was from New Orleans
0:44:26 > 0:44:28and he was a character
0:44:28 > 0:44:32and when he moved up to New York,
0:44:32 > 0:44:35into Queens, you know what?
0:44:35 > 0:44:38He came back here and was king of the Zulus
0:44:38 > 0:44:41and I thought, "yeah!"
0:44:41 > 0:44:44Mac, I know I just met you,
0:44:44 > 0:44:46but I love you.
0:44:46 > 0:44:47Thank you for your time.
0:44:47 > 0:44:50Hey, I love your ass too. LAUGHTER
0:44:51 > 0:44:54# And I think to myself
0:44:55 > 0:44:59# What a wonderful world
0:45:01 > 0:45:04# What a wonderful world. #
0:45:18 > 0:45:21MUSIC: Big Chief by Professor Longhair
0:45:29 > 0:45:31Another thing about New Orleans is,
0:45:31 > 0:45:35it is one of the remaining cities left - maybe the only one -
0:45:35 > 0:45:37that still has its own character
0:45:37 > 0:45:39and has room for characters.
0:45:39 > 0:45:41It hasn't been homogenised to death.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51Hey, man - what makes New Orleans New Orleans?
0:45:51 > 0:45:54- What makes New Orleans New Orleans? - Yeah.- The people, man!- Ha-ha!
0:45:54 > 0:45:55On the spot, baby.
0:45:58 > 0:46:00Hey bro-man. Hey, sister-woman.
0:46:02 > 0:46:05- What is this?- Chinese!- Oh, hey! What's happening?
0:46:05 > 0:46:08REGINALD LAUGHS
0:46:08 > 0:46:10- They're in China?- Yeah.- Oh, my God!
0:46:10 > 0:46:13- Hey, China! Hey, Mama! - This is Mummy.
0:46:13 > 0:46:16- Tell her she's going to be on the BBC.- Oh, thank you!
0:46:20 > 0:46:21Hello!
0:46:23 > 0:46:28I think it's the most un-American American city in America -
0:46:28 > 0:46:30and America is better for it.
0:46:35 > 0:46:40MUSIC: Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans? by Billie Holiday and Charlie Beal
0:46:51 > 0:46:55The beauty of a Southern night is not necessarily in the eyes -
0:46:55 > 0:46:56it's in the stillness.
0:46:58 > 0:47:00If you were born into it,
0:47:00 > 0:47:02then that stillness is in the hard-drive of your soul.
0:47:03 > 0:47:05Some say the stillness of the Southern nights
0:47:05 > 0:47:08are born out of little else to do.
0:47:09 > 0:47:10Maybe.
0:47:12 > 0:47:14But in our modern lives...
0:47:15 > 0:47:18..we often get disconnected from who we really are,
0:47:18 > 0:47:20or what we really want,
0:47:20 > 0:47:23or what we're really trying to do, because we lose our stillness.
0:47:27 > 0:47:28Those are Southern nights.
0:47:32 > 0:47:34# Southern nights
0:47:34 > 0:47:38# Have you ever felt a Southern night?
0:47:41 > 0:47:43# Free as a breeze
0:47:43 > 0:47:46# Not to mention the trees
0:47:46 > 0:47:50# Whistling tunes that you know and love so.
0:47:51 > 0:47:52# Southern skies... #
0:47:54 > 0:47:57Southern Nights, the original was done...
0:47:57 > 0:47:58Not as a commercial song,
0:47:58 > 0:48:01but to share a part of my life
0:48:01 > 0:48:04as a little tot, coming up
0:48:04 > 0:48:08and visiting our old relatives in the country -
0:48:08 > 0:48:10all those old Creole-speaking people -
0:48:10 > 0:48:12some spoke no English at all.
0:48:12 > 0:48:17My father said we should go out there to see where we came from,
0:48:17 > 0:48:19to know where we were going.
0:48:19 > 0:48:21# Feel so good
0:48:21 > 0:48:23# I feel so good it's frightening
0:48:23 > 0:48:25# Wished I could
0:48:26 > 0:48:30# Stop this world from fighting... #
0:48:30 > 0:48:32It was a wonderful feeling, to leave the city
0:48:32 > 0:48:35and go out to the country, where life was so different.
0:48:35 > 0:48:39There was no electricity, no gas.
0:48:39 > 0:48:43There was so much wisdom and knowledge that they had passed on,
0:48:43 > 0:48:45from generation to generation -
0:48:45 > 0:48:48and I felt it, even as a very young child,
0:48:48 > 0:48:52how fortunate I was to be there.
0:48:52 > 0:48:54It was so good and so rich.
0:48:55 > 0:48:58# Mysteries
0:48:58 > 0:49:00# Like this and many others
0:49:00 > 0:49:02# In the trees
0:49:04 > 0:49:07# They all blow in the night
0:49:07 > 0:49:10# In the southern skies
0:49:13 > 0:49:15# In the southern skies. #
0:49:24 > 0:49:26Southern Nights.
0:49:31 > 0:49:35MUSIC: Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand) by Irma Thomas
0:49:40 > 0:49:43Irma Thomas is known as the Soul Queen of New Orleans.
0:49:45 > 0:49:49And if anyone can unpick this city's unique musical gumbo, she can.
0:49:52 > 0:49:55I think of New Orleans as a part of the South,
0:49:55 > 0:49:57but not necessarily of the South.
0:49:57 > 0:49:59We're different.
0:49:59 > 0:50:02- It's both at the same time.- Yeah, we're different.- Would that be fair?
0:50:02 > 0:50:04Yes, we are a very unique city,
0:50:04 > 0:50:07for lack of a better word to explain.
0:50:07 > 0:50:09When visitors come to the city
0:50:09 > 0:50:12and they see this laid-back comfort-ness that we have,
0:50:12 > 0:50:16that we share with other people, we share with total strangers...
0:50:16 > 0:50:19It kind of rubs off on them, it's like giving them a vaccination
0:50:19 > 0:50:20and they've got to come back!
0:50:20 > 0:50:23LAUGHTER
0:50:26 > 0:50:30# It's raining so hard
0:50:32 > 0:50:34# Looks like it's going to rain all night
0:50:37 > 0:50:40# And this is the time
0:50:40 > 0:50:43# I'd love to be holding you tight
0:50:44 > 0:50:47# But I guess I'll have to accept
0:50:49 > 0:50:51# The fact that you are not here
0:50:53 > 0:50:55# I wish tonight
0:50:55 > 0:50:59# Would hurry up and end
0:50:59 > 0:51:01# My dear
0:51:01 > 0:51:03# It's raining so hard... #
0:51:03 > 0:51:06Does singing mean to you now what it always has meant?
0:51:06 > 0:51:09- Yeah, I enjoy it. - As much as you ever have?
0:51:09 > 0:51:11Truly, I really... In fact, I enjoy it more,
0:51:11 > 0:51:13because at my age, I'm surprised I can still do it.
0:51:13 > 0:51:16LAUGHTER
0:51:16 > 0:51:19So I'm enjoying it even more so!
0:51:19 > 0:51:23Now, the song, It's Raining - tell me about that.
0:51:23 > 0:51:25It's a song that's definitely about New Orleans.
0:51:25 > 0:51:27It's Raining was written by Allen Toussaint,
0:51:27 > 0:51:29under the name of Naomi Neville -
0:51:29 > 0:51:32and of course, the city that rains a lot -
0:51:32 > 0:51:35it kind of rewrote itself...
0:51:35 > 0:51:37The storyline is about a lover who's not there,
0:51:37 > 0:51:39but the weather's raining
0:51:39 > 0:51:42and you know how you get melancholy, when it rains?
0:51:42 > 0:51:44But that's basically what the song is about -
0:51:44 > 0:51:47wanting the lover to be there, with the weather being the way it is,
0:51:47 > 0:51:52So you can cuddle and do those things that you do when it's raining.
0:51:52 > 0:51:55# I've got the blues so bad
0:51:56 > 0:51:59# I could hardly catch my breath... #
0:52:01 > 0:52:04I hear echoes of Hurricane Katrina in the song. Just echoes -
0:52:04 > 0:52:07I know it's not about that, but it's like...
0:52:07 > 0:52:12It's raining, and for those who lost anything here, it's like...
0:52:12 > 0:52:14"My thing that I love isn't here".
0:52:14 > 0:52:17When Katrina hit,
0:52:17 > 0:52:19you experienced a loss - you lost the bar, no?
0:52:19 > 0:52:23Oh, yes. When Katrina came, fortunately for me,
0:52:23 > 0:52:25I was doing a gig in Austin, Texas -
0:52:25 > 0:52:29and of course, we played the Saturday night and that's when the storm hit,
0:52:29 > 0:52:31between Saturday night and Sunday,
0:52:31 > 0:52:33so when I did wake up Sunday morning
0:52:33 > 0:52:36and we were trying to see what happened with the storm,
0:52:36 > 0:52:39we were able to see our house on TV,
0:52:39 > 0:52:43- with the water up to the rafters at the top of the house...- Oh...
0:52:43 > 0:52:46So, as they were doing the fly-over,
0:52:46 > 0:52:49my house was near the interstate and we were able to actually
0:52:49 > 0:52:52pick out our home and I called my husband and I said,
0:52:52 > 0:52:55"Honey, we don't have a home to go to." He said, "What you mean?"
0:52:55 > 0:52:58I said "Look at the TV" and I showed it to him, he said "You're right".
0:52:58 > 0:53:00The water was at the eaves of the house.
0:53:00 > 0:53:04But you know, I was ready to go back home, still, even though the water was there.
0:53:04 > 0:53:06My husband said "Where are we going to live?"
0:53:06 > 0:53:09I said, "We're going to be in New Orleans". He says, "But..."
0:53:09 > 0:53:11I said "No buts, we're going back to New Orleans".
0:53:12 > 0:53:15# It's raining so hard
0:53:17 > 0:53:19# Brings back memories
0:53:22 > 0:53:24# Of the time
0:53:24 > 0:53:27# When you were here with me
0:53:29 > 0:53:32# Counting every drop
0:53:33 > 0:53:36# About to blow my top
0:53:37 > 0:53:39# I wish this rain
0:53:39 > 0:53:43# Would hurry up and stop... #
0:53:44 > 0:53:46I can't speak for other Americans,
0:53:46 > 0:53:49but I can't say I believe that I'm alone, in that...
0:53:51 > 0:53:54..I felt, as an American, that something was threatening us,
0:53:54 > 0:53:56when Hurricane Katrina hit here.
0:53:57 > 0:53:59When you hear about the people
0:53:59 > 0:54:01who haven't been able to return to their homes
0:54:01 > 0:54:03or lost their way of life,
0:54:03 > 0:54:07or maybe the erosion of the musical scene, then it felt...
0:54:07 > 0:54:09I felt threatened,
0:54:09 > 0:54:11even though I had never set foot in New Orleans.
0:54:12 > 0:54:14# The harder it rains
0:54:16 > 0:54:19# The worse it gets
0:54:20 > 0:54:24# This is the time
0:54:24 > 0:54:27# I'd love to be holding you tight
0:54:28 > 0:54:32# I guess I'll just go crazy
0:54:32 > 0:54:33# Tonight. #
0:54:39 > 0:54:41Since the flood,
0:54:41 > 0:54:44is New Orleans' musical soul the same?
0:54:44 > 0:54:46- Better? Worse?- Well...
0:54:47 > 0:54:49It's... Some things is better,
0:54:49 > 0:54:52some things is worse,
0:54:52 > 0:54:56but when I was just in the Lower Ninth Ward the other day,
0:54:56 > 0:54:58I'm taking a guy...
0:54:59 > 0:55:04..to see where my friends lived and stuff...
0:55:04 > 0:55:09There was nothing, where anybody really lived...
0:55:09 > 0:55:11that's there no more.
0:55:11 > 0:55:15A whole part of New Orleans that was here...
0:55:16 > 0:55:19..and that was part of the soul and the spirit of New Orleans...
0:55:19 > 0:55:21is gone.
0:55:22 > 0:55:24Where are all them people now?
0:55:24 > 0:55:26Where?
0:55:29 > 0:55:32A quarter of New Orleans' population never returned.
0:55:32 > 0:55:36The storm scattered a million people from the Gulf Coast across America -
0:55:36 > 0:55:39the latest in a long line of Southern migrations.
0:55:45 > 0:55:47It's now ten years since Katrina -
0:55:47 > 0:55:49time to move on.
0:55:49 > 0:55:50It may be mid-summer,
0:55:50 > 0:55:52but that Mardi Gras feeling is never far away.
0:55:55 > 0:55:58All right, all right - and who the hell are you cats?
0:55:58 > 0:55:59What's going on?
0:55:59 > 0:56:01- Soul rebels.- Soul rebels?
0:56:01 > 0:56:02I'm pleased to meet y'all.
0:56:02 > 0:56:05What's going on, brother? What's happening, what's happening?
0:56:05 > 0:56:07So what y'all going to play?
0:56:07 > 0:56:08Mardi Gras In New Orleans.
0:56:08 > 0:56:12You don't need no help, let me get out of your way.
0:56:12 > 0:56:15MUSIC: Mardi Gras In New Orleans by The Soul Rebels Brass Band
0:56:21 > 0:56:24Music in New Orleans after Katrina - and the spirit of the music -
0:56:24 > 0:56:28is in marvellous shape, wonderful shape.
0:56:28 > 0:56:31For one thing, it has new strengths.
0:56:31 > 0:56:35Whenever you have to overcome something as traumatic as Katrina,
0:56:35 > 0:56:38you either perish or become stronger,
0:56:38 > 0:56:40as opposed to drowning.
0:56:40 > 0:56:42I always consider it a baptism.
0:56:46 > 0:56:49# Well, down in New Orleans
0:56:49 > 0:56:51# I'm going to go see the Mardi Gras... #
0:56:52 > 0:56:57We've always been complacent here, to mosey on along at our own slow pace,
0:56:57 > 0:57:00but Katrina sometimes...
0:57:00 > 0:57:04made us kind of spike up a bit.
0:57:04 > 0:57:07# I got my ticket in my hand
0:57:07 > 0:57:09# When I get down there I'mma do my thing
0:57:09 > 0:57:13# Gonna go see the Mardi Gras Gonna go see the Mardi Gras
0:57:13 > 0:57:16# I got my ticket in my hand
0:57:16 > 0:57:18# When I get down there I'mma do my thing
0:57:18 > 0:57:21# Gonna go see the Mardi Gras Gonna go see the Mardi Gras
0:57:21 > 0:57:24# When I get down there
0:57:24 > 0:57:27# Somebody show me the Zulu King. #
0:57:34 > 0:57:37New Orleans, end of the line.
0:57:38 > 0:57:42End of the Mississippi. Journey's end.
0:57:42 > 0:57:44I'm supposed to sit here and tell you
0:57:44 > 0:57:46about how this journey has changed me -
0:57:46 > 0:57:47and I guess it has, some.
0:57:47 > 0:57:51When I left 17 years ago, I was done with it -
0:57:51 > 0:57:54but since I've been back, I've found a new...
0:57:54 > 0:57:57I hate to say it, but "pride" in southern music,
0:57:57 > 0:57:59southern hospitality
0:57:59 > 0:58:02and yes, even that accent I ran from, all those years ago.
0:58:03 > 0:58:06I see a new South, forming around lots of the cities,
0:58:06 > 0:58:09new allegiances, new economies
0:58:09 > 0:58:12and the rest of the South, well... It's as sleepy as it's ever been.
0:58:12 > 0:58:15I have a feeling it's going to be like that for a while.
0:58:19 > 0:58:21The music of the south is many things -
0:58:21 > 0:58:24it's funky, it's bluesy, it's gospelly.
0:58:24 > 0:58:25It's full of love of home,
0:58:25 > 0:58:28it's full of gothic-ness,
0:58:28 > 0:58:30of sadness, of pining for the past
0:58:30 > 0:58:32and looking forward to the future.
0:58:33 > 0:58:35Thanks for watching.
0:58:35 > 0:58:37See you next year, for Songs Of The South 2(!)