Joe Savage: Dangerous Blues (1978)

"Dangerous Blues," sung by Joe Savage, former muleskinner and Parchman Farm inmate, on the levee in Greenville, Mississippi. Shot by Alan Lomax, Worth Long, and John Bishop, on September 2, 1978. Alan Lomax recorded another version of this holler in 1959 from a Parchman prisoner named Floyd Batts. It was also popular in the women's camp: Alan's father John A. Lomax recorded it sung by a group of female prisoners in 1933, and in 1937 Herbert Halpert recorded a solo version at the camp performed by Mattie May Thomas. For more videos from the American Patchwork fieldwork and information about Alan Lomax and his collections, visit: http://research.culturalequity.org. [2.17.14]