I Do Not Play No Rock 'n' Roll

 

When Mississippi Fred McDowell was finally recorded by Alan Lomax in 1959, he was in his mid-fifties. That fact was pretty amazing considering how many Mississippi blues artists were recorded in the 1920's and 1930's and somehow, he was overlooked. Born in 1904, he was a few years younger than other Delta blues artists like Charley Patton (1891), Skip James (l902), Son House (1902), and Tommy Johnson (1896) and a few years older than Robert Johnson (1911), Howlin' Wolf (1910), Muddy Waters (1913), and John Lee Hooker (1917).

Like those listed above, he began playing the blues as a youth, around the age of 14 playing for tips at dances and fish fries around town (his parents died when he was young). Unlike those others, he got his start in Rossville, Tennessee, where he was born, not Mississippi.

He got tired of working on the farm and moved to Memphis around the age of 21 in 1926. He worked building railroad cars, working in a cotton oil mill, stacking logs. McDowell had learned guitar in Rossville from a Mississippi native named Raymond Payne and an uncle who played guitar with a slide made from a dried steak bone. McDowell eventually began using a pocketknife for a slide, developing his own unique style and technique.

In 1928, he moved to Mississippi, where he picked cotton and traveled around, learning to play some of Charley Patton's songs directly from Patton. He settled in Como, Mississippi around 1940, where he worked as a farmer during the week and continued to play music on weekends at parties, dances, and picnics in the Como area.

Alan Lomax had already recorded several blues men in the late 30's and early 40's, including Muddy Waters, Big Bill Broonzy, Lead Belly, and Josh White. He had moved to England during the Red Scare, but returned to the states in 1959. He and English folk singer Shirley Collins began traveling through the Southern U.S., hoping to re-record some of their previous artists with better equipment.

One of the artists he re-recorded on this trip (dubbed the Southern Journey) was Blind Sid Hemphill, who lived in Panola County, MS, part of the North Mississippi hill country. Hemphill recommended McDowell, who was still playing parties throughout the area, and Lomax was able to record 14 tracks by McDowell, who played his guitar on his neighbor Lonnie Young's front porch.

These stunning, intimate tracks included solo tracks by McDowell and others with guitarist Miles Pratcher, Fanny Davis (who played tissue paper and comb!), his wife Annie Mae, James Shorty, Sidney Carter, and Rose Hemphill all singing background vocals. Some of the cuts were featured on a four-volume set of those recordings called Sounds of the South in 1960 and later all 14 tracks were compiled by Rounder Records (see below), among others.

After the field recordings, McDowell simply returned to farming and playing for tips outside a Stuckey's store at Como, but those recordings did catch the attention of Chris Strachwitz, who came to Como to record him. There were two volumes released by Arhoolie, now collected as Mississippi Delta Blues in one volume, and they really caught the attention of the 60's blues and folk communities.

Here was a guy who completely missed the 20's and 30's recordings and managed to avoid any attention at all, just working as a farmer and playing music on the side. He was so modest and unassuming as well, just seeming to take all the attention in stride.

McDowell made subsequent recordings for Testament and Atlantic Records in the mid 60's, and numerous other recordings have surfaced over the years as well, a couple of which we'll discuss below.. His albums were a mix of blues standards and originals and spirituals, some of which featured vocals from his wife Annie Mae and the Hunter's Chapel Singers of Como.

In 1969, he went to Malaco Studios in Jackson, MS, armed with an electric guitar. This drove the blues purists nuts, but as gripping and compelling as McDowell's acoustic guitar playing was, his “plugged-in” brand of blues (complete with a rhythm section) was equally compelling. It was a perfect fit for electricity and I Do Not Play No Rock 'n' Roll is an album that should be must-listening for any fan of Mississippi blues.

McDowell played multiple blues festivals, including the Newport Folk Festival and the American Folk Blues Festival in Europe. He appeared in several documentary films, and soon was influencing many of the up-and-coming blues-rock artists, such as Bonnie Raitt, who recorded several of his songs, and the Rolling Stones, whose version of “You Got To Move” on their Sticky Fingers album is one of their most memorable tracks.

McDowell with Bonnie Raitt

Sadly, Mississippi Fred McDowell's career was cut short because he was diagnosed with cancer in 1971. He subsequently passed away on July 3, 1972 at the age of 68. He was buried at Hammond Hill Baptist Church, between Como and Senatobia, MS. The Mount Zion Memorial Fund placed a memorial on his grave in 1993, replacing the old damaged one, which had McDowell's name misspelled and is now on display at the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale). There's also a Mississippi Blues Trail marker for McDowell in downtown Como.

If you hear any North Mississippi hill country blues recordings, from R.L. Burnside and his family to the North Mississippi Allstars, it will all make sense as to how important Mississippi Fred McDowell was to Delta blues and continues to be to contemporary Mississippi blues.  Their albums have often included covers of McDowell tunes and new recordings that owe much to his style.

There are a stack of Mississippi Fred McDowell albums available, LP, CD, or digital.  You can't really go wrong with any of them, but I'm going to list a few that would be a nice start for newcomers.  The above-mentioned Alan Lomax recordings (First Recordings:  The Alan Lomax Portrait Series on Rounder Records) are, as the title indicates, the very first one done by McDowell.  They are very good, among his best, and have great sound, like you're listening from the front yard.  He performs solo and with the other artists mentioned above.  The Arhoolie set Mississippi Delta Blues, also mentioned above, should definitely be on your list as well.  There are a couple of tracks recorded by his friend Eli Green included, but McDowell's songs include many of his originals and a few of his renditions of traditional Delta blues tunes.

In addition, the 2003 Shout Factory! compilation set Heroes of the Blues:  The Very Best of Mississippi Fred McDowell catches what those first two collections missed, plus a few other, mixing blues with spirituals.  It's a very fine set and certainly covers his career pretty well.  Just about every McDowell tune that you've heard about over the years is included here and, even though he redid many of these over and over again, the versions collected here are all first-rate, so this might be the best starting point for newcomers.

A couple of others worth mentioning are the Capitol Records electric set, I Do Not Play No Rock 'n' Roll, for which I'm so glad McDowell decided to "plug in."  These are truly remarkable and shed a whole new light on his brand of blues.  The Rounder set, Mississippi Fred McDowell, was recorded at his home in 1962, with no intention of being released.  The set is pretty intimate, he was just playing for himself more or less, and there's a powerful, raw energy to the songs. 

Speaking of powerful, raw energy, be sure to check out Mama Says I'm Crazy on Fat Possum Records.  This set was recorded by George Mitchell in 1967 and reunited McDowell and harmonica player Johnny Woods.  They had not played together in eight years, but you would never know from their performances.  If you happened to visit a Como, MS house party in the mid 60's, this is probably close to what you would have heard and if you're a Delta blues fan, it's just wonderful.  

Mississippi Fred McDowell may be a blues artists that more recent blues fans might have missed, but if they've listened to some of the newer blues artists, especially the North Mississippi hill country artists, they've gotten a taste of his sound.  However, new listeners should know that no one played this sound better than Fred McDowell and he has a lot of material out there to be sampled, so please check him out.