Dangerous Blues - Joe Savage

"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.
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Parchman Farm recollections and field hollers - Joe Savage

Joe Savage recalls breaking out of the Rosedale jail, his time spent at Parchman Farm (the Mississippi State Penitentiary) at Lambert Camp and Camp 1, and his work with a contrary white mule. He sings several field holler verses. Shot by Alan Lomax, John Bishop, and Worth Long on the levee in Greenville, Mississippi, August 22, 1978. For more information about the American Patchwork filmwork, Alan Lomax, and his collections, visit http://culturalequity.org.

Dangerous Blues - Joe Savage

Joe Savage is one of the four muleskinners--along with Walter Brown, William S. Hart, and Bill Gordon--that Alan Lomax interviews in the film about his experiences working as a laborer building the massive levee systems so prominent throughout Mississippi. Savage, who spent several years in the Parchman State Penitentiary, also speaks on film about the brutality he faced while serving time and sings several blues songs capturing his emotions. See Lomax's book The Land Where the Blues Began, Chapter 5, pp. 235-55; Chapter 6, pp.257.