What Are You Laughin' At?!

http://www.fatpossum.com/

The South has a separate culture, and the people livin' there have a kind of pride in their culture that outsiders, especially those from the city, or otherwise known as "civilization", cannot understand. Matthew Johnson is intrigued by the Blues in Mississippi where R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, Cedell Davis, and T-Model Ford indulged in a sound and performed for the locals every week.

Johnson made a documentary, You See Me Laughin'; Last of the Hill Country Bluesmen takin' place in Mississippi, about Blues musicians that are not well known. This documentary has received certain amounts of criticism and praise for either finally recording this culture, or for exploiting these musicians.

Many questions came to mind when I watched this film such as, is this film humiliating for these musicians? Musicians who, can't walk, don't have the use of all their fingers, have health problems and don't go to the doctor, live in a shack, and drink, smoke, shoot..people..and curse. R.L. Burnside mentions that "anybody can have to Blues", it isn't specifically for people in the South, or people in poverty. Blues can be when your wife leaves you. Truthfully these Bluesmen bring these Blues on themselves, and if they don't experience the Blues but just play them like T-Model Ford they are just selling something, and figured it is the only thing they could sell.

Most of these musicians express disinterest in record labels and touring and performing and were satisfied with where they were. This has more to do with their age than anything, maybe if they were in their 20s or 30s their dreams wouldn't have worn down before this opportunity come along. But seein' as it did, money is what matters in the end and dreams are what mattered in the beginning.

Would these Blues musicians be has cultured if they had made it big in their 20s or 30s? Is suffering what really triggers this Blues music? At the very beginning Ford mentions he never been in the Blues and Davis was told if he played the Blues he will go to hell. The Blues was these men's only way not to be Blue.

T-Model Ford. however, didn't pick up a guitar til he was middle-aged. He is quoted saying, "I cant read, I can't write, I can't even spell, but I can play the guitar when I wanna".

I think that if these cats can't read, can't write, don't give a shit about shooting someone and the only way they can express themselves is through a musical instrument and that expression sounds like what the Blues sound like, then yes I think their lives, their experiences, their situation, and their culture is what creates that sound, whether they know it or not. They might not think of it as the Blues, or "in the Blues", however it might just be a culture one becomes accustom to having lived in it for so long, never known anything better, never wanted to.

Is what Johnson doin' threatening the Blues culture? Does he exploit these Bluesmen in the quest for a recorded history? These Bluesmen were playing Blues to play them but also to have something to do. Is Johnson providing them with a final pay off for doing what they "love".

The documentary itself is not exploitation, and the record labels provide an income, and a choice to receive that income for these Bluesmen. In this case the Bluesmen ain't workin' they are playin' for money. "If you love what you do, then you will never work a day in your life".