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America's Blues

About the Film

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From Charlie Patton’s roots in the rural south to Bob Dylan’s 1998 performance at Madison Square Gardens, Blues music has transcended generations and racial barriers. It has laid the foundation for pop culture and American music. Blues is a time-honored art, influencing musical genres like jazz, country and rock n’ roll as well as helping to tear down walls of segregation and create social acceptance of cultural diversity.

America's Blues takes a new angle on an established narrative, focusing on the evolution of American music and the impact that Blues music has had on our society, popular culture, and the entertainment industry. Through interviews with musicians, historians, artist, professionals, activists, and others, a compelling story of the music’s significant historical contribution unfolds. We explore, not only the musical impact it has had on all forms of Popular American Music, but also the influence it has had on art, fashion, language, film, literature and more.
Licensing Questions
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About the Cast

Terence Blanchard
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Grammy-Award-Winning Jazz Musician and Film Composer
Ira Newborn
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Award-Winning Film Composer
Jimbo Mathus
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Blues musician and Lead Singer for Squirrel Nut Zippers
Big George Brock
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"Heavyweight Champion of the Blues"
Leo Bud Welch
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Mississippi Blues Legend

David Dee
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Saint Louis Blues Legend
Bill Sims Jr
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Singer/Guitarist for Grammy Nominated Blues Heritage Orchestra
Chaney Sims
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Singer for Grammy Nominated Blues Heritage Orchestra
Junior Mack
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Singer/Guitarist for Grammy Nominated Blues Heritage Orchestra
Drumma Boy
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Multi-Platinum Hip Hop Producer

Danielle Schnebelen
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Blues Musician & BMA Winner
Samantha Fish
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Blues Musician and BMA Winner
Curtis Salgado
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Blues Musician and BMA Winner
Sharon Lewis
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Chicago Blues Diva
Kim Massie
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St Louis R&B/Blues Diva

Jimmi Mayes
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Blues Musician & "Sideman to the Stars"
Theo Dasbach
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Blues Musician, Historian & Founder of the Rock N Blues Museum
Anthony Gomes
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Blues Rock Musician
Bill Luckett
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Mayor of Clarksdale and Co-Owner of Ground Zero Blues Club
Harry Weber
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Famous Artist & Sculptor
Rip Kastaris
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Famous Artist
Dick Waterman
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Famed Blues Photographer & Manager
Debra Devi
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Blues Musician and author of "The Language of the Blues: From Alcorub to Zuzu"
Lance Williams PhD
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Historian and Founder of Blacks on Blues
Jim O'Neal
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Historian and Co-Founder of Living Blues Magazine and Research Director for the Mississippi Blues Trail

Robert Earl Price
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Famous African American Playwright and Poet
Charles Chamberlain PhD
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New Orleans Historian
Houston Baker PhD
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African American Scholar and Professor of English at Vanderbuilt University
Dean Alger PhD
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Historian and author of "The Original Guitar Hero and the Power of Music: The Legendary Lonnie Johnson Music and Civil Rights"
Hal Lansky
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Owner of Lansky's in Memphis and son of the "Clothier to the King"

 Gil Cook PhD
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English Professor and contributor to "Jay-Z: Essays on Hip Hop's Philosopher King"
Janice Monti PhD
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Retired Professor & Chair of Sociology and Criminology and Director of the Blues and the Spirit Symposium at Dominican University
Venci Vernado
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Leo Bud Welch's Manager
Patricia Schroeder PhD
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English Professor and author of "Robert Johnson, Mythmaking and Contemporary American Culture"
Stan Street
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Blues Musician, Artist and owner of Hambone Art & Music Gallery in Clarksdale
Greg Johnson
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Blues Curator and Associate Professor in the Department of Archives and Special Collections at the University of Mississippi
Tom Graves
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Historian & Author of "Crossroads: The Life and Afterlife of Blues Legend Robert Johnson"

Chicago Tribune Article
The Blues Foundation was very excited to choose 'America's Blues' as the Official Documentary of the International Blues Challenge. We feel that this film does a stellar job of helping the viewer understand the historical context of the blues as it relates to bigger cultural issues within our society. Our audiences's feedback was overwhelmingly positive to both the content of the movie as well as its entertainment value."
Barbara B. Newman
President & CEO at the Blues Foundation
I’m not surprised that America’s Blues has been winning awards. It does a better job than any blues documentary I can think of—and I mean any—in placing the music in dialogue with the full range of its contexts: not just African American social history, but jazz, film, literature, drama, tourism, and fashion. Patrick Branson and Aaron Pritchard have avoided what I’d call the “usual suspects” syndrome in the matter of interviewees, giving screen-time not just to a broad array of contemporary blues performers ranging from Leo “Bud” Welch and Bill Sims, Jr. to Samantha Fish and Jimbo Mathus, but to scholars such as Houston A. Baker, Jr. and Patricia R. Schroeder, foreign-born entrepreneur Theo Dasbach, and jazz trumpeter/composer Terence Blanchard. This documentary manages to celebrate the inescapably African American roots and continuance of this great American music and, without seeming contradiction, document its spread far beyond African American communities. America’s Blues is a winner—and a must-see for any blues fan, scholar, or performer.
Adam Gussow, PhD
Author, Musician and Associate Professor of English and Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi
In an climate of Racing to the Top and Leaving No Children Behind, we educators constantly seek tools to make meaningful strides in the classroom. America's Blues is the epitome of Cultural Relevance and vital to a pedagogy meant for African Americans and students of the South"
Dr Julius Bailey
Author, African American Scholar and Associate Professor of Philosophy at Wittenberg University
Whether you love the Blues or are just starting your journey with it, watching "America's Blues" should be on your short list of things to spend 90 minutes of your life doing. From its origins, through its transformations and evolution, the Blues has not just survived. It has thrived. America's Blues is a great reminder."
Bill Hulsizer, Director
Big Joe Duskin Music Education Foundation
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