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Robert Connely Farr's Magnolia from MS

A songwriter originally from Bolton, Mississippi, Robert Connely Farr currently lives in Vancouver, BC, more-or-less diagonally across the continent. For the last two or three years, Connely has been mentored by Bentonia, Mississippi native Jimmy “Duck” Holmes in the Bentonia Style of the Delta Blues, an obscure style that Holmes learned directly from Henry Stuckey (who taught Skip James among others). Not a bad pedigree.

In 2018, Farr teamed up with Canadian producer Leeroy Stagger to record an album of the songs written during his mentorship. Later that year, Robert Connely Farr & the Rebeltone Boys released Dirty South Blues. Reviews called it “completely authentic,” “a masterpiece,” “marvelous little gem,” “Impressive” and “really killer stuff.”

Among the eight songs written for the album, Magnolia” describes Farr’s home state with a clear eye and a vision for a better future. Farr told Elmore “This song is a call to arms to address the inherent racism that is associated with the Confederate flag on the Mississippi state flag.”