Mississippi Fred McDowell
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Fred McDowell (January 12, 1904 – July 3, 1972), known by his stage name Mississippi Fred McDowell, was an American
hill country blues Hill country blues (also known as North Mississippi hill country blues or North Mississippi blues) is a regional style of country blues. It is characterized by a strong emphasis on rhythm and percussion, steady guitar riffs, few chord changes, unco ...
singer and guitar player.


Career

McDowell was born in
Rossville, Tennessee Rossville is a town in Fayette County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 664 at the 2010 census, up from 380 at the 2000 census. Geography Rossville is located in southwestern Fayette County at (35.043935, -89.542931). It is bordered ...
, United States. His parents were farmers, who both died while Fred was in his youth. He took up the guitar at the age of 14 and was soon playing for tips at dances around Rossville. Seeking a change from plowing fields, he moved to Memphis in 1926, where he worked in the Buck-Eye feed mill, which processed cotton into oil and other products.''Delta Blues'' back sleeve Arhoolie F1021 In 1928, he moved to Mississippi to pick cotton. He finally settled in
Como, Mississippi Como is a town in Panola County, Mississippi, which borders the Mississippi Delta and is in the northern part of the state, known as hill country. The population was 1,279 as of the 2010 census. History In a 2007 article about the area, Wayne Dr ...
, in 1940 or 1941 (or maybe the late 1930s), where he worked as a full-time farmer for many years while continuing to play music on weekends at dances and picnics. After decades of playing for small local gatherings, McDowell was recorded in 1959 by roving folklore musicologist
Alan Lomax Alan Lomax (; January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an American ethnomusicologist, best known for his numerous field recordings of folk music of the 20th century. He was also a musician himself, as well as a folklorist, archivist, writer, sch ...
and
Shirley Collins Shirley Elizabeth Collins MBE (born 5 July 1935) is an English folk singer who was a significant contributor to the English Folk Revival of the 1960s and 1970s. She often performed and recorded with her sister Dolly, whose accompaniment on ...
, on their Southern Journey field-recording trip. With interest in blues and
folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
rising in the United States at the time, McDowell's field recordings for Lomax caught the attention of blues aficionados and record producers, and within a couple of years, he had finally become a professional musician and recording artist in his own right. His LPs proved quite popular, and he performed at festivals and clubs all over the world. McDowell continued to perform the blues in the north Mississippi style much as he had for decades, sometimes on electric guitar rather than acoustic guitar. He was particularly renowned for his mastery of
slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos tha ...
, a style he said he first learned using a pocketknife for a slide and later a polished beef rib bone. He ultimately settled on the clearer sound he got from a glass slide, which he wore on his ring finger. While he famously declared, "I do not play no rock and roll," he was not averse to associating with younger rock musicians. He coached
Bonnie Raitt Bonnie Lynn Raitt (; born November 8, 1949) is an American blues singer and guitarist. In 1971, Raitt released her self-titled debut album. Following this, she released a series of critically acclaimed roots-influenced albums that incorporated ...
on slide guitar technique and was reportedly flattered by
The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...
' rather straightforward version of his " You Gotta Move" on their 1971 album ''
Sticky Fingers ''Sticky Fingers'' is the 9th British and 11th American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. The Stones released it on 23 April 1971 on their new, and own label Rolling Stones Records. They had been contracted by Decca ...
''. In 1965, he toured Europe with the
American Folk Blues Festival The American Folk Blues Festival was a music festival that toured Europe as an annual event for several years beginning in 1962. It introduced audiences in Europe, including the UK, to leading blues performers of the day such as Muddy Waters, Howl ...
, together with Big Mama Thornton, John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy, Roosevelt Sykes and others. McDowell's 1969 album ''I Do Not Play No Rock 'n' Roll'', recorded in Jackson, Mississippi, and released by
Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...
, was his first featuring electric guitar. It contains parts of an interview in which he discusses the origins of the blues and the nature of love. His live album ''Live at the Mayfair Hotel'' (1995) was from a concert he gave in 1969. Tracks included versions of
Bukka White Booker T. Washington "Bukka" White (November 12, 1906 February 26, 1977) was an American Delta blues guitarist and singer. Biography White was born south of Houston, Mississippi. He was a first cousin of B.B. King's mother (White's mother and ...
's "
Shake 'Em On Down "Shake 'Em On Down" is a Delta blues song by American musician Bukka White. He recorded it in Chicago in 1937 around the beginning of his incarceration at the infamous Parchman Prison Farm in Mississippi. It was his first recording for produc ...
,"
Willie Dixon William James Dixon (July 1, 1915January 29, 1992) was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. He was proficient in playing both the upright bass and the guitar, and sang with a distinctive voice, but he ...
's "
My Babe "My Babe" is a Chicago blues song and a blues standard written by Willie Dixon for Little Walter. Released in 1955 on Checker Records, a subsidiary of Chess Records, the song was the only Dixon composition ever to become a number one R&B single ...
,"
Mance Lipscomb Mance Lipscomb (April 9, 1895 – January 30, 1976) was an American blues singer, guitarist and songster. He was born Beau De Glen Lipscomb near Navasota, Texas. As a youth he took the name Mance (short for ''emancipation'') from a friend of hi ...
's "Evil Hearted Woman," plus McDowell's self-penned "Kokomo Blues."
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
noted that the album "may be the best single CD in McDowell's output, and certainly his best concert release". McDowell's final album, '' Live in New York'' (
Oblivion Records Oblivion Records is an independent American record label that focuses on under recorded blues and jazz musicians. The company was originally based in Huntington, New York and the WKCR-FM studios at Columbia University in New York City, with a p ...
), was a concert performance from November 1971 at the Village Gaslight (also known as
The Gaslight Cafe The Gaslight Cafe was a coffeehouse in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York. Also known as The Village Gaslight, it opened in 1958 and became notable as a venue for folk music and other musical acts.Al AronowitzThe Gaslight, ...
), in
Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
, New York. McDowell’s version of the folk song " John Henry" from 1969 is included on the ''Ann Arbor Blues Festival 1969: Vols 1&2,'' 2019 release. McDowell died of cancer in 1972, aged 68, and was buried at Hammond Hill Baptist Church, between Como and
Senatobia, Mississippi Senatobia is a city in, and the county seat of, Tate County, Mississippi, United States, and is the 16th largest municipality in the Memphis Metropolitan Area. The population was 8,165 at the 2010 census. Senatobia is the home of Northwest Mis ...
. On August 6, 1993, a memorial was placed on his grave by the Mount Zion Memorial Fund. The ceremony was presided over by the blues promoter
Dick Waterman Dick Waterman (born July 14, 1935) is an American writer, promoter and photographer who has been influential in the development and recording of the blues since the 1960s. Life and career Waterman was born in Plymouth, Massachusetts, United Stat ...
, and the memorial with McDowell's portrait on it was paid for by
Bonnie Raitt Bonnie Lynn Raitt (; born November 8, 1949) is an American blues singer and guitarist. In 1971, Raitt released her self-titled debut album. Following this, she released a series of critically acclaimed roots-influenced albums that incorporated ...
. The memorial stone was a replacement for an inaccurate (McDowell's name was misspelled) and damaged marker. The original stone was subsequently donated by McDowell's family to the Delta Blues Museum, in
Clarksdale, Mississippi Clarksdale is a city in and the county seat of Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States. It is located along the Sunflower River. Clarksdale is named after John Clark, a settler who founded the city in the mid-19th century when he establishe ...
. McDowell was a
Freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
and was associated with
Prince Hall Freemasonry Prince Hall Freemasonry is a branch of North American Freemasonry for African Americans founded by Prince Hall on September 29, 1784. There are two main branches of Prince Hall Freemasonry: the independent State Prince Hall Grand Lodges, most of ...
; he was buried in Masonic regalia.


References


Bibliography

* Ferris, William (1988). ''Blues from the Delta''. Rev. ed. Da Capo Press. . . * Ferris, William (2009). ''Give My Poor Heart Ease: Voices of the Mississippi Blues''. University of North Carolina Press. . (with CD and DVD). * Ferris, William, and Hinson, Glenn (2009). ''The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture''. Vol. 14, ''Folklife''. University of North Carolina Press. . . * Gioia, Ted (2009). ''Delta Blues: The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Music''. W. W. Norton. . . * Harris, Sheldon (1979). ''Blues Who's Who''. Da Capo Press. * Herzhaft, Gérard, Encyclopedia of the Blues (Arkansas Press) * Lomax, Alan (1993). ''The Land Where the Blues Began''. New York: Pantheon. * Nicholson, Robert (1999). ''Mississippi Blues Today!'' Da Capo Press. , . * Palmer, Robert (1982). ''Deep Blues: A Musical and Cultural History of the Mississippi Delta''. Penguin reprint ed. . . * Wilson, Charles Reagan; Ferris, William; Adadie, Ann J. (1989). ''Encyclopedia of Southern Culture''. 2nd ed. University of North Carolina Press. . .


External links


Short documentary about Fred McDowell with performance



Fred McDowell on Oblivion Records
{{DEFAULTSORT:McDowell, Mississippi Fred 1904 births 1972 deaths African-American guitarists American blues singers American blues guitarists American male guitarists American Prince Hall Freemasons Country blues singers Blues musicians from Mississippi Blues revival musicians Electric blues musicians Fat Possum Records artists Slide guitarists Deaths from cancer in Mississippi People from Fayette County, Tennessee 20th-century American guitarists Guitarists from Mississippi Sire Records artists Transatlantic Records artists Black Lion Records artists Arhoolie Records artists 20th-century African-American male singers