Blues in the Lower Chattahoochee Valley
Steve Bransford, Emory University
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Essay Sections:
Introduction | The Region | Topics and Terms | Blues Artists | Bryant, Daniel and Mitchell | Audio Interview Excerpts |Assorted Audio Performances |Recommended Resources


Bryant, Daniel and Mitchell:
This section provides original video and audio footage from interviews with Precious Bryant, George Daniel, and George Mitchell, as well as several music clips and audio interview clips from other sources.

Real Player, QuickTime, or Windows Media Player are required to view clips. Broadband and external speakers are highly recommended.

Precious Bryant: Video/Audio Clips

"My Chauffeur" ( 2:21 min.)

Bryant learned this in the 1980s from a Memphis Minnie cassette tape.


Interview Excerpt with Precious Bryant (0:57 min.)

Bryant talks about some of her earliest musical experiences.
"Georgia Buck" (1:23 min.)

instrumental version

Bryant explains that she learned "Georgia Buck" from her father and her uncle, and it came "from some of those older guitar players like Blind Boy Fuller." She also mentions that when her father and uncle played the song "it was just 'The Buck'...I put the Georgia to it."
(video courtesy of Jake and Cathy Fussell)
"Fever" (2:46 min.)

Bryant learned this Little Willie John hit after hearing on the radio in the late fifties.
Precious Bryant Interview Excerpt ( 2:18 min.)

Bryant talks about the Georgia Fife and Drum Band and the musical community that she grew up in.
(video courtesy of Jake and Cathy Fussell)
"Sugar Hill Blues" (1:38 min.)

instrumental version
"Fool Me Good" ( 2:10 min.)


George Daniel: Video/Audio Clips:

"Smokestack Lightnin"
(2:12 min.)

Daniel Interview Excerpt
(0:52 min.)

George Daniel discusses some of his early musical experiences.
Solo harmonica piece
(1:56 min.)

George Mitchell conducted this interview with George Daniel in 1979.
(courtesy George Mitchell)
"Standard Juke" (1:58 min.)


George Daniel and Jake Fussell featured.
Daniel Interview Excerpt
(1:12 min.)

Daniel discusses playing with Albert Macon and Robert Thomas and the blues clubs in his area.
Two electric tunes (5:15 min.)

George Mitchell: Video Clips:

Mitchell Interview Excerpt
(5:15 min.)

Mitchell discusses how he began recording blues in the Lower Chattahoochee Valley.

Mitchell Interview Excerpt (3:01 min.)
Mitchell discusses the Lower Chattahoochee blues sound, relating it to the Mayday tradition of "pole plattin.'" He believes the region's poverty and isolation contributed to the lack of Lower Chattahoochee blues recordings from the twenties through the forties.

Mitchell lists the "three kinds" of traditional music and tells how Lower Chattahoochee blues musicians take popular blues tunes and adapt them to their own styles.


Essay Sections:
Introduction | The Region | Topics and Terms | Blues Artists | Bryant, Daniel and Mitchell | Audio Interview Excerpts |Assorted Audio Performances |Recommended Resources


Published: 16 March 2004

© 2004 Steve Bransford and Southern Spaces