by Hunter Dawkins
Ever wondered if you could be a photographer, yet write a novel about the pictures? Well, Steven Manheim did just that, providing a source to the mystique of the Blues musicians from the Mississippi Delta.
Manheim traveled to many locations throughout the Mississippi Delta taking photographs at a few blues music festivals, really capturing the personality of the bedrock to the creation of music.
“I really began the book following a few well-known musicians in Cleveland, Ohio,” said Manheim. “Then taking a few pictures of them in Chicago until I decided to travel to a few towns where they came from.”
After looking at a few of these black and white photographs upon display, Manheim came up with a potential idea for a book. Depiction of the Delta blues, born as work songs in Mississippi cotton fields, was played on city street corners and in rural juke joints as described throughout this book.
The photographs of these artists provide the display of legacy to the rock n’roll era of music. Whether the acts come from Cleveland, Memphis or Chicago, each form of music originated from the Mississippi Delta .
