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Photos by Laura Carbone

Through an innovative and arresting multi-media production, Mississippi came to New York City on two cold February nights, with the “Voices of Mississippi” event at Lincoln Center. Those voices—which included the legendary Bobby Rush and blues diva Ruthie Foster—took the audience on a journey to the heart and soul of the blues—with a bit of gospel appropriately added in for these difficult times.

The show was based on the multi-Grammy-winning box set, Voices of Mississippi: Artists and Musicians, documented by William Ferris. The collection won two Grammy Awards in 2019 for Best Historical Album and Best Album Liner Notes. Both the box set and the live show featured Ferris’ archival photos and videos along with live music performed by a Who’s Who of musicians with Mississippi connections. The multi-media concert integrated live musical performances with archival film clips, audio recordings and rare photographs, creating an immersive experience. Held in Lincoln Center’s stunning Appel Room with its floor-to-ceiling views of Central Park and New York’s glittering skyline, the focus remained on the show that transported a sold-out audience to Mississippi, past and present.

Ferris began the show by tracing the connections between his home state and the Big Apple: Southern culture came north and flowered in the Harlem Renaissance, particularly at the Apollo Theater, and in the folk revival in Greenwich Village. A musical map of Mississippi was followed by a filmed visit from 1971 with the late Othar Turner (the acknowledged patriarch of fife and drum music) at his family pig roast in the Hill Country of Mississippi, photographs and recollections of Turner.

Ferris then recounted his connections with RL Burnside and Jim Dickinson, as introduction to the evening’s core artists: Sharde Thomas (granddaughter of Othar Turner), Cedric Burnside (grandson of RL Burnside), and Luther and Cody Dickinson (sons of Jim Dickinson).

These artists performed music passed down to them, and the connection between past and present became palpable. A segment on blues guitar introduced Bobby Rush and Ruthie Foster, with the latter channeling her mentor Jessie Mae Hemphill and adding an a cappella version of Son House’s “Grinning in Your Face,” Foster’s only accompaniment being the audience clapping in rhythm; It brought the house down.

Bobby Rush didn’t need to channel anyone—he was the only one on the show that Ferris had documented directly. After noting that he is 88 years old, Rush’s charismatic energy carried the night as he performed his own songs. The legendary Jackson, MS resident is a two-time Grammy winner whose personal history reflects the history of Mississippi itself, from the chitlin’ circuit to the civil rights movement, to today’s events.

The Dickinson brothers, Luther and Cody, co-lead the renowned North Mississippi Allstars, and along with Cedric Burnside, are modern blues torchbearers, carrying on the Hill Country blues tradition while shaping its future.

Sharde Thomas provided refreshing sparkle to the evening, carrying on her grandfather’s tradition of playing a homemade bamboo cane fife. Her voice was stunning, with range and power, and her fife playing made everyone’s hearts dance. At the end of the concert, she led a ceremonial Hill Country Fife and Drum march throughout the audience.

Ferris’ historic film clips interspersed the program, from a talk with BB King to a mass salvation in a black sanctified church to dancing in a one-room juke joint. Other film clips touched on Mississippi literary paragons such as Alice Walker and Eudora Welty.

The show was produced by Charles Driebe of Blind Ambition Management and Lance and April Ledbetter, of Dust To Digital. Future performances are scheduled for the University Of North Carolina and the Savannah Music Festival. The core group of musicians may stay the same, with special guest musical artists with Mississippi ties joining in. There is a beautifully packaged companion box set that is itself a work of art, representing Ferris’ work through an extensive hard cover book with information, photos and lyrics, and three CDs featuring Ferris’ recordings of blues, gospel and storytelling, and a DVD of rare film footage.

This is far from an ordinary concert, it’s a multimedia time capsule that transports one to a time and a state that changed American music and its culture and still echoes into today. Look for a performance near you.

—Laura Carbone