Deep Blues

Apr 1, 1992

1h 31m

★ 8.5

A Musical Pilgrimage to The Crossroads

Overview

This warm 90 minutes documentary shows us unknown blues musicians from Mississippi. They play everywhere : on the streets, in dirty little bars, in a barber shop, in big clubs. The film really captures the true faces of blues and shows us that this music had nothing to do with nostalgia or record company hypes. Documentary on the Delta blues.

Genres

Documentary

Music

Production Companies

Radio Active

Oil Factory Films

Deep Blues Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

Self

R. L. Burnside

Self - guitar

Junior Kimbrough

Self

Big Jack Johnson

Self

Robert Palmer

Self

Dave Stewart

Self

Roosevelt Barnes

Self - A. Schwab's Dry Goods Store

Abraham Schwab

Self

Wade Walton

Self - Jessie Mae's Fife and Drum Band

Jessie Mae Hemphill

Eric Clapton is widely considered one of the greatest blues guitarists of all time. He played with The Yardbirds, a seminal 60s blues-rock band that would go on to become Led Zeppelin, before recording an album that is known as one of the greatest blues-rock albums ever made, with John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers. He went on to form three supergroups in quick succession. This film features his live performance at Budokan in Tokyo, Japan on February 25, 2009.

7.8

The Rape of Recy Taylor

May 30, 2019

Recy Taylor, a 24-year-old black mother and sharecropper, was gang raped by six white boys in 1944 Alabama. Common in Jim Crow South, few women spoke up in fear for their lives. Not Recy Taylor, who bravely identified her rapists. The NAACP sent its chief rape investigator Rosa Parks, who rallied support and triggered an unprecedented outcry for justice. The film exposes a legacy of physical abuse of black women and reveals Rosa Parks’ intimate role in Recy Taylor’s story.

6.1

Blues in the Night

Nov 15, 1941

A struggling band find themselves attached to a fugitive and drawn into a series of old feuds and love affairs, as they try to stay together and find musical success.

6.9

Lady Sings the Blues

Oct 12, 1972

Chronicles the rise and fall of legendary blues singer Billie Holiday, beginning with her traumatic youth. The story depicts her early attempts at a singing career and her eventual rise to stardom, as well as her difficult relationship with Louis McKay, her boyfriend and manager. Casting a shadow over even Holiday's brightest moments is the vocalist's severe drug addiction, which threatens to end both her career and her life.

0.0

Me & Stella

Jan 1, 1976

Geri Ashur’s Me & Stella traces the life of blues musician, folk singer, and composer Elizabeth Cotten—and her guitar, Stella—who is best known for writing the folk standard “Freight Train.” After spending her early teenage years writing songs and playing the guitar, Cotten put her musical career on hold for three decades. Encouraged by the very musical Seeger family, for whom she worked as a maid, Cotten started recording and became a star in the 1960s burgeoning folk revival at an age when most people are contemplating retirement.

5.2

Maynard

Nov 16, 2017

Director Sam Pollard constructs a portrait of charismatic trailblazer Maynard Jackson, who became Atlanta’s first black mayor in 1973. The son of pastors raised in the segregated South, Jackson entered college at 14 and took office at 35. During his three-term tenure, he led the city through the traumatic Atlanta child murders scare and triumphantly hosted the 1996 Olympics, all while championing racial equality. Family and colleagues, including Bill Clinton, Andrew Young and Al Sharpton, tell the epic story of a dynamic leader and his legacy of honor and progress.

5.3

Pino Daniele Live @ RTSI

May 26, 2006

No overview available.

6.8

Show Boat

May 17, 1936

Despite her mother's objections, the naive young daughter of a show boat captain is thrust into the limelight as the company's new leading lady.

0.0

Bad Woman Blues- Beth Hart

Dec 1, 2023

"Bad Woman Blues - Beth Hart" celebrates the music and voice of a woman who enriches rock and blues with emotion, authenticity, and honesty.

6.0

Blues Story

Nov 1, 2003

Blues Story presents an impressionistic history of one of the most lasting art forms America has ever produced - as told for the first time through the eyes of the artists who lived it. Combining exclusive interview and performance footage with vintage clips and the music of many Blues legends long gone, the history of this richly felt music is illuminated - from its African roots to its American urban expression - along with its profound place in our cultural heritage. The result is a rare, first-hand glimpse into the lives of these vanishing artists, and a moving, insightful and informative look into a music that continues to be loved by millions throughout the world.

10.0

Antone's: Home of the Blues

Jan 19, 2004

Documentary film about the legendary blues club in Austin, Texas. The film is filled with historical and dynamic blues performances from the earliest days of the club in the 1970s. Stars David Adelson, Clifford Antone.

7.4

Crossroads

Mar 14, 1986

A wanna-be blues guitar virtuoso seeks a long-lost song by legendary musician, Robert Johnson.

0.0

The Musicians' Green Book: An Enduring Legacy

Nov 26, 2022

Stories and music of Black artists who relied on an underground travel guide to navigate the injustices of racial segregation while on the road. The Negro Travelers’ Green Book was a directory of lodgings, restaurants, and entertainment venues where African Americans were welcomed. Features performances and interviews with vocalists, musicians, activists, historians, and others.

7.7

Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story

Sep 26, 2008

Boogie Man is a comprehensive look at political strategist, racist, and former Republican National Convention Committee chairman, Lee Atwater, who reinvigorated the Republican Party’s Southern Strategy to increase political support among white voters in the South by appealing to racism against African Americans. He mentored Karl Rove and George W. Bush and played a key role in the elections of Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

6.6

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Dec 21, 2007

Following a childhood tragedy, Dewey Cox follows a long and winding road to music stardom. Dewey perseveres through changing musical styles, an addiction to nearly every drug known and bouts of uncontrollable rage.

7.7

The Blues Brothers

Jun 16, 1980

Jake Blues, just released from prison, puts his old band back together to save the Catholic home where he and his brother Elwood were raised.

8.0

Joan Armatrading: Me Myself I

Sep 27, 2019

Granting unprecedented access, Joan Armatrading tells her life story, both as a songwriter and as a performer. Features key performances from Joan and many of the musicians she has influenced.

6.9

Genghis Blues

Jul 19, 1999

Blind blues musician Paul Pena is perhaps best known for his song "Jet Airliner". In 1993, Pena heard Tuvan throat singing over his shortwave radio and subsequently taught himself how to reproduce these extraordinary sounds. This documentary follows him to Tuva, where he takes part in a throat singing competition. Languages featured in the film include English, Russian and Tuvan.

0.0

Natchez

Jan 30, 2026

Filmmaker Suzannah Herbert takes a sharp look at the American South’s unreconciled history through a Mississippi town that mixes antebellum tourism with a community deeply divided over its past. With an unflinching lens, the film captures the debates, memories, and tensions that are building toward a reckoning.

7.3

Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus

Jul 9, 2004

A stunningly-photographed, thought-provoking road trip into the heart of the poor white American South. Singer Jim White takes his 1970 Chevy Impala through a gritty terrain of churches, prisons, truckstops, biker bars and coalmines. Along the way are roadside encounters with present-day musical mavericks the Handsome Family, David Johansen, David Eugene Edwards of 16 Horsepower and old-time banjo player Lee Sexton, and grisly stories from the cult Southern novelist Harry Crews.