Plot Summary

This film by John Jeremy grew from photographs and field recordings made by Paul Oliver on a journey through the South in 1960. Oliver, a British architectural historian who devoted years to researching African American blues, memorialized the journey also in his 1963 book Conversation with the Blues. The film includes the voices and music of Blind James Brewer, James “Butch” Cage, Gus Cannon, Walter Davis, Blind Arvella Gray, Sam “Lightnin” Hopkins, James “Stump” Johnson, Lonnie Johnson, J. B. Lenoir, Charles Love, “Little Brother” Montgomery, James Oden, Edwin Buster Pickens, Sam Price, Robert Curtis Smith, Otis Span, Willie Thomas, Henry Townsend, Wade Walton, and others unidentified.