Crossroads Club 27: Mississippi Fred McDowell

My name is Fred McDowell. They call me Miss'ippi Fred McDowell. But it, my home's in Ro[ss]ville Tennessee. But it don' make any different, it soun' good to me. I seem like I'm at home in there when I'm in Miss'ippi? An' I do not play no rock'an'roll y'all. I jus' play jus' straight an' natchel blue? An' whenever you get somebody, y'know, want to plo:w for you, just call for Fred McDowell, yeh. I wa raised on the farm, y'unnerstan'? Now only way you can rock Fred, you have to put him in a rocking chair, or either lay me down, y'unnerstan, yeh. Heh, that's my type of rockin', yeh heh heh.

Wiki Bio

Fred McDowell (January 12, 1904 - July 3, 1972), called "Mississippi Fred McDowell", was a Delta blues singer and guitar player.

McDowell was born in Rossville, Tennessee, near Memphis. His parents, who were farmers, died when McDowell was a youth. He started playing guitar at the age of 14 and played at dances around Rossville. Wanting a change from ploughing fields, he moved to Memphis in 1926 where he worked in a number of jobs and played music for tips. He settled in Como, Mississippi, about 40 miles south of Memphis, in 1940 or 1941, and worked steadily as a farmer, continuing to perform music at dances, picnics and the like. Initially he played slide guitar using a pocket knife and then a slide made from a beef rib bone, later switching to a glass slide for its clearer sound. He played with the slide on his ring finger.

While commonly lumped together with "Delta Blues singers," McDowell actually may be considered the first of the bluesmen from the North Mississippi region--parallel to, but somewhat east of the Delta region--to achieve widespread recognition for his work. A version of the state’s signature musical form somewhat closer in structure to its African roots (often eschewing the chord change for the hypnotic effect of the droning, single chord vamp), the North Mississippi style (or at least its aesthetic) may be heard to have been carried on in the music of such figures as Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside, as well as the jam band The North Mississippi All-Stars, while serving as the original impetus behind creation of the Fat Possum record label out of Oxford, Mississippi.

Mississippi Fred McDowell - John Henry, From: NaOH123

The 1950s brought a rising interest in blues music and folk music in the United States, and McDowell was brought to wider public attention, beginning when he was recorded in 1959 by Alan Lomax. McDowell's recordings were popular, and he performed often at festivals and clubs. McDowell continued to perform blues in the North Mississippi blues style much as he had for decades, but he sometimes performed on electric guitar rather than acoustic. While he famously declared "I do not play no rock and roll," McDowell was not averse to associating with many younger rock musicians: He coached Bonnie Raitt on slide guitar technique, and was reportedly flattered by The Rolling Stones' rather straightforward, authentic version of his "You Gotta Move" on their 1971 Sticky Fingers album.

McDowell's 1969 album I Do Not Play No Rock 'N' Roll was his first featuring electric guitar. It features parts of an interview in which he discusses the origins of the blues and the nature of love. This interview was sampled and mixed into a song (also titled I Do Not Play No Rock 'N' Roll by Dangerman in 1999.McDowell died of cancer in 1972 and is buried at Hammond Hill M.B. Church, between Como and Senatobia, Mississippi.

Slide guitarist Bob Log III named him as his main influence and the person who led him to play guitar.

AllMusic Bio

When Mississippi Fred McDowell proclaimed on one of his last albums, "I do not play no rock & roll," it was less a boast by an aging musician swept aside by the big beat than a mere statement of fact. As a stylist and purveyor of the original Delta blues, he was superb, equal parts Charley Patton and Son House coming to the fore through his roughed-up vocals and slashing bottleneck style of guitar playing. McDowell knew he was the real deal, and while others were diluting and updating their sound to keep pace with the changing times and audiences, Mississippi Fred stood out from the rest of the pack simply by not changing his style one iota. Though he scorned the amplified rock sound with a passion matched by few country bluesmen, he certainly had no qualms about passing any of his musical secrets along to his young, white acolytes, prompting several of them — including a young Bonnie Raitt — to develop slide guitar techniques of their own. Although generally lumped in with other blues "rediscoveries" from the '60s, the most amazing thing about him was that this rich repository of Delta blues had never recorded in the '20s or early '30s, didn't get "discovered" until 1959, and didn't become a full-time professional musician until the mid-'60s.

He was born in 1904 in Rossville, TN, and was playing the guitar by the age of 14 with a slide hollowed out of a steer bone. His parents died when Fred was a youngster and the wandering life of a traveling musician soon took hold. The 1920s saw him playing for tips on the street around Memphis, TN, the hoboing life eventually setting him down in Como, MS, where he lived the rest of his life. There McDowell split his time between farming and keeping up with his music by playing weekends for various fish fries, picnics, and house parties in the immediate area. This pattern stayed largely unchanged for the next 30 years until he was discovered in 1959 by folklorist Alan Lomax. Lomax was the first to record this semi-professional bluesman, the results of which were released as part of a American folk music series on the Atlantic label. McDowell, for his part, was happy to have some sounds on records, but continued on with his farming and playing for tips outside of Stuckey's candy store in Como for spare change. It wasn't until Chris Strachwitz — folk blues enthusiast and owner of the fledgling Arhoolie label — came searching for McDowell to record him that the bluesman's fortunes began to change dramatically.

Two albums, Fred McDowell, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, were released on Arhoolie in the mid-'60s, and the shock waves were felt throughout the folk-blues community. Here was a bluesman with a repertoire of uncommon depth, putting it over with great emotional force, and to top it all off, he had seemingly slipped through the cracks of late-'20s/early-'30s field recordings. No scratchy, highly prized 78s on Paramount or Vocalion to use as a yardstick to measure his current worth, no romantic stories about him disappearing into the Delta for decades at a time to become a professional gambler or a preacher. No, Mississippi Fred McDowell had been in his adopted home state, farming and playing all along, and the world coming to his doorstep seemed to ruffle him no more than the little boy down the street delivering the local newspaper.

Mississippi Fred McDowell - Goin Down to the River, From: NaOH123

The success of the Arhoolie recordings suddenly found McDowell very much in demand on the folk and festival circuit, where his quiet, good-natured performances left many a fan utterly spellbound. Working everything from the Newport Folk Festival to coffeehouse dates to becoming a member of the American Folk Blues Festival in Europe, McDowell suddenly had more listings in his résumé in a couple of years than he had in the previous three decades combined. He was also well documented on film, with appearances in The Blues Maker (1968), his own documentary Fred McDowell (1969), and Roots of American Music: Country and Urban Music (1970) among them. By the end of the decade, he was signed to do a one-off album for Capitol Records (the aforementioned I Do Not Play No Rock 'N' Roll) and his tunes were being mainstreamed into the blues-rock firmament by artists like Bonnie Raitt (who recorded several of his tunes, including notable versions of "Write Me a Few Lines" and "Kokomo") and the Rolling Stones, who included a very authentic version of his classic "You Got to Move" on their Sticky Fingers album. Unfortunately, this career largess didn't last much longer, as McDowell was diagnosed with cancer while performing dates into 1971. His playing days suddenly behind him, he lingered for a few months into July 1972, finally succumbing to the disease at age 68. And right to the end, the man remained true to his word; he didn't play any rock & roll, just the straight, natural blues.

by Cub Koda

ArtistDirect Bio

If any of the commercial labels like OKeh or Paramount had discovered Mississippi Fred McDowell back in the 1920s or 1930s when they were busy putting out 78s by the likes of Charley Patton, Son House, Robert Johnson, and Skip James, he very well might be thought of today as the absolute best of the old Delta and country blues players. His slide tone was as pure or purer than any of them, and they were indeed his contemporaries (Robert Johnson was actually seven years his junior), but McDowell had to wait for Alan Lomax to visit Como, MS, in 1959 to be discovered. Over the next decade McDowell distinguished himself as a master of the country blues (and country gospel) medium, delivering performance after performance of emotionally balanced versions of the old Delta catalog and turning in breathtaking slide guitar work on both acoustic and electric guitar. This fine collection includes scattered live performances by McDowell recorded between 1963 and 1969, but even though the set is somewhat patched together, it still feels like a coherent whole, and a pretty accurate portrait of this amazing blues player clearly emerges from it all. McDowell's signature "You Got to Move" is here (listed as "You Gotta Move"), as well as a thundering version of Bukka White's "Shake 'Em on Down" that is every bit as exciting as White's original, a sprightly take on "I Asked for Whiskey, She Gave Me Gasoline," and a majestic acoustic version of "Going Down the River." A subtly balanced singer, McDowell is nothing short of elegant when he pulls out the slide, and no country blues player has ever done it better. It's virtually impossible to find a bad Fred McDowell album, and this patchwork affair is no exception. His natural grace and elegance shine through no matter how he is packaged.

Steve Leggett, All Music Guide

Mephis History Bio

Fred McDowell was born in Rossville, Tennessee, just east of Memphis in January, 1904. Orphaned while still a youth McDowell picked up the guitar at age 14. Although he played at dances and picnics it was not a real source of income. Most of his income was from the back-breaking work of a farm laborer.

The life of a musician in Memphis was much less taxing physically than the life of a farmer. Like many young people in the early part of the early 20th century, McDowell made his way to the city and began to make his way as a musician in 1926. McDowell played a guitar based mainly on slide. He originally used a pocket knife, but moved on to (believe it or not) a beef rib bone. Ultimately he used a glass slide in the manner of the early slide-blues musicians. These slides were normally made of "medicine bottles" which at that time were tall and slim. Fred McDowell sliced his glass slide down to the point that he could play slide "lead or melody" while still striking chords. The open tunings he used reduced the need for complex chord fingering.

During the World War II era Fred McDowell left the music profession and took the ultimate fallback in those days, farmwork. As fate would have it an expedition to the South by Alan Lomax and Crew recorded a number or Fred's songs which eventually led to him being a part of the so-called "re-discovery" of blues artists. It was actually an unearthing of existing blues artists by a brand new fan-base.

McDowell performed for a number of years, including playing on the electric guitar, but always his mantra was "I do not play no rock and roll". He, in fact, made that the title of an album recorded in 1969. He does not appear to have been offended by rock and roll, he simply did not play it. He was honored by the Rolling Stones recording of his "You Gotta Move". He should have been honored deeply since other bands, notably Led Zepplin, stole liberally from the older blues musician without giving up a penny of the royalties.

Fred McDowell's later life contained a good deal more recognition and respect than his early life. Sadly he died from cancer at the age of 68 in 1972. He appears to have anticipated the music of Elmore James and modeled a much-imitated style of two-fingered picking with raked chords and slide interludes.

Mississippi Fred McDowell is buried at Hammond Hill M.B. Church, between Como and Senatobia, Mississippi.

The following is Fred McDowell in his own words:

"I couldn't tell you exactly the date I was born. I was born in Rossville, Tennessee... I was about 21 when I left Rossville. There I was plowing with a mule. My father was a farmer and I worked with him. We were working twelve acres, growing cotton, peas and corn. I went to Memphis from there. I just got tired of plowing. I went there to look around, and after I got there I started working the Buckeye Oil Mill, sacking corn. Yellow corn, oats, sweet peas, and all like that. They had a great big plant out there. I stayed there about three years, I think. Then I loafed around, stayed with different people, friends. I worked for the Dixon brothers hooking logs on the track.

Fred McDowell - My babe, From: slideman77

"Worked in Chickasaw stacking logs for barrels. Worked at the Illinois Central shop in Memphis building freight cars. All this time I was picking up guitar...

"I was just a young man when I started playing guitar. In my teens, I was. I used to go to dances. I used to sing to the music whilst others was playing. When they'd quit, I'd always grab the guitar, go to doing something with it. I was watching them pretty close to see what they were doing. My older sister-- I nearly forgot-- played a little guitar, but she didn't teach me anything. I didn't get a guitar of mine until 1941. When I was learning, when I was young, I was playing other people's guitars...The way I got my first guitar-- Mr. Taylor, a white man from Texas, he gave me a guitar. I was working in a milk dairy in White Station, near Memphis. This was right before I'd moved to Mississippi. I wasn't making money from music. Just playing around for dances and like that...

"I learned a lot from one fellow, Raymond Payne, in Rossville. He was really good. Played regular style, not bottleneck. I got that bottleneck style from my uncle. He was an old man, the first person I ever saw play with that. He didn't play with a bottleneck, though. You know this big bone you get out of a steak? Well, he done let it dry and smoothed it off and it sounded just like that bottleneck. That's the first somebody I saw play like that. This was in Rossville. I was a little bitty boy when I heard him do that, and after I learned how to play I made me one and tried it too. Started off playing with a pocketknife. I just remembered him doing it. He didn't show me. Nothing. I never could hardly learn no music by nobody trying to show me. Like, I hear you play tonight. Well, next week sometime it would come to me... what you was playing. I'd get the sound of it in my head, then I'd do it my way from what I remembered...

"I made up a lot of the songs I sing. It's like you hear a record or something or other. Well, you pick out some words out of that record that you like. You sing that and add something else onto it. It's just like if you're going to pray, and mean it, things will be in your mind. As fast as you get one word out, something else will come in there. Songs should tell the truth... When I play-- if you pay attention, what I sing the guitar sings, too. And what the guitar say, I say." - Fred McDowell

The following is a quote from Alan Lomax, the main researcher in the "blues rediscovery" movement of the 1940s and 50s:

"Fred was surprised when I admired his music sufficiently to visit him for several evenings and record everything he knew. In true country fashion he kept telling me that he couldn't play nearly as well as other men he knew. In my estimation he is simply a modest man, for in him the great tradition of the blues runs pure and deep."