Product Details

• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Yazoo
• VHS Release Date: April 16, 1995
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302907438
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #684,823 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Mississippi artists offer some of the most exciting and forceful of all blues styles. The music from this region contains a vitality and vigor that ensured its popularity up to the present day. These two artists represent successful strains of the Mississippi delta blues style.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A treat for guitarists, April 24, 2003

By 

James Mann (Decatur, GA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Masters of the Country Blues - Fred McDowell and Big Joe Williams (DVD)

The performances shown here of Fred McDowell and Big Joe Williams seem aimed at guitarists- many closeups of both men's guitar playing style. McDowell plays electric, and makes it look effortless, with his trademark bottleneck style and alternating bass. Williams plays his one of a kind 9 string and while he's not as mannered and precise as McDowell, he is certainly an experience. The only reason this dvd doesn't get 5 stars is the fact it's under an hour, but for whats here, it doesn't get any better.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Country Blues DVD, May 21, 2008

By 

D. B Pepper "neonx83" (Plainview, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Masters of the Country Blues - Fred McDowell and Big Joe Williams (DVD)

This is an excellent dvd. Big Joe Williams and Fred McDowell could not be more different when it comes to their styles. Williams cuts many of his songs short in order to fit as much music as possible into his set. McDowell, on the other hand, lets the songs develop more. This gives us a feel for what seeing these men live in concert must have been like. To the other reviewer- your imagination is running wild. Fred McDowell's performance here has nothing to do with race. The fact that this performance was recorded during the height of the Civil Rights movement by white cameramen is totally superfluous. McDowell does not seemed threatened at all by anyone of any color during his performance. "Different ethnic setting"? You must be joking. Blacks have been in this country longer than most whites. The setting McDowell was performing in was not alien to him at all. Since his "discovery" by Lomax, he had played for many whites. Furthermore, McDowell is not a Delta musician. He is from the Mississippi Hill Country, and his style is different than Delta muscians'. The other dvd you're suggesting, "Deep Blues", features some truly lousy "Blues" music, except for Lonnie Pitchford's excellent performance towards the end of the dvd. "Deep Blues" shows us that almost all of the great Bluesmen were gone by the early 1990's, when the dvd was made. I can tell that you are someone who isn't able to distinguish between good Blues and "Blues". Your five star review of the "Blues Story" dvd also hammers this point home. Your comment about Big Joe Williams being "raw" and the naked remark show that you are looking upon him as a "Negro savage", which is insulting, especially considering how you're trying to champion McDowell's conquest of racism earlier in your interview.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You Want Real Delta Blue's.. here it is, June 20, 2006

By 

Mississippi Pigs Feet Dupuis "Dupuis" (North East USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Masters of the Country Blues - Fred McDowell and Big Joe Williams (DVD)

The other review is all fact.. but in the context of delta music, the show IS watching and listening to the player usually sitting, keeping beat with his foot, in this DVD, Fred Mcdowell, seems a little uncomfortable within a different ethnic setting which reading between the lines is history as its happening. A delta musician in a white mans world at a time in history when chances are he's a little on edge.. this is not my imagination, watch, judge for yourself, however he found security in his trademark style. I have played the DVD over and over mostly in slow motion to TRY and replicate his simple looking but complex technique.. Then there's BIG JOE WILLIAM'S, bow tie hanging to one side, he was by all account's a rough tough bluesman, 5'5, 275lbs.. he couldn't care less where he was, he was no stranger to violence, the only way his contribution could be more raw would be if he was naked with only his trade mark bow tie. May I humbly suggest purchasing all the "Masters" collection.. that is if your fanatical about early blues either as a player or a lover of this style music, while your at it, "DEEP BLUES" should be included featuring my good friend Jessie Mae Hemphill and the late great R L Burnside and many others.. Junior Kimbrough at his juke joint is a something you won't soon forget... great DVD/DVD's