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Messin' Around

"Blues in the Mississippi Night" is a legendary audio documentary recorded by folklorist Alan Lomax. In 1947, Lomax brought Memphis Slim, Big Bill Broonzy, and Sonny Boy Williamson I into a New York studio. To protect...

Recorded1947, Decca Studios, New York City
LabelUnited Artists
Show PlacementShow 49

"Blues in the Mississippi Night" is a legendary audio documentary recorded by folklorist Alan Lomax. In 1947, Lomax brought Memphis Slim, Big Bill Broonzy, and Sonny Boy Williamson I into a New York studio. To protect the musicians from violent retaliation for speaking openly about Jim Crow, Lomax claimed the recording was made in a Mississippi juke joint. "Messin' Around" serves as a musical interlude between their harrowing stories of racial terror and prison farms. Slim's rolling, sophisticated piano work provided a stark, beautiful contrast to the heavy, dangerous reality of the spoken-word conversations that surrounded it.