Customer Reviews
Another "Must Have" DVD 
2008-03-30
If any music DVD is a prime example of the old adage "when you find a good chord, stick to it" this one is it. It is a fascinating look at the lives of some great rural blues musicians and a lesson that blues music does not need to be complex to be powerful. These guys play the simplest of riffs yet still make the hairs on your neck stand on end. Great stuff and a lesson to all the Eric Clapton wanabees.
Well Well Well!!! 2008-02-08
"You See Me Laughin"! If you like your blues with grit, then get this video. The interviews with T-Model, Rule Burnside, and especially Cedell's story are worth the price of admission with the added bonus of footage from Junior Kimbrough's JukeJoint.
I've bought a few good ones lately but this video is probably the best in the collection.
Tweed
you gotta see this 
2008-01-11
If you are any kind of fan of the blues, this is a must for your video collection. These guys are and were the real deal.
Nothing short of amazing 2007-12-20
This documentary is nothing short of amazing. The constant undertow of great blues music and the musical cadence of the storytelling bluesmen make the experience of watching hypnoticly compelling. I can watch this again and again. I love sharing it with others too.
This is not just for music snobs and know-it-alls. Whether you are already a fan of the genre, or someone who knows nothing about the blues, but just like the sound, you will be drawn in. Not at all dry or overproduced, never boring, this low-budget doc is close to perfect. I've bought the music of all the performers as a result. I'm sure they've already blown their share of the money on something. :)
Real Bluesmen with Real Problems 2007-12-14
A snapshot of the last of the true Mississippi bluesmen, the movie takes a fantastic look at what real blues are all about. We the troubled lives of some of the most unfamous and superstitious guitar pickers in the most backward area of the deep south. Think you have troubles? Get ready for true stories of killing, gambling, womanizing, affliction, and the music that surrounded it all. Amazing.
It's all here 2007-09-13
You See Me Laughin' is a full length documentary that takes a look at the often untamed lifestyles of the last great North Mississippi bluesmen and the Oxford, MS based label- Fat Possum Records- that struggles to record them. The film is an exciting collage of exclusive interviews, live performances and personal anecdotes. It includes rare, black and white footage of RL Burnside from 1974, disturbingly funny stories about touring told first hand by Iggy Pop and John Spencer Blues Explosion as well as an interesting encounter with Junior Kimbrough described by Bono from U2 and much more. This is not for the faint of heart.
Want To Know Where Your Music Comes From? 2007-03-28
Rock and Roll is the prototypal American music. Maybe Jazz was at one time, but it's Rock now, and has been for the last 50 years. Where did rock come from? A smattering of Jazz may have been involved, but Rock mainly arose from the atomic explosion that was black Mississippi delta blues traveling North, and running smack dab into white Appalachian hillbilly music travelling West. The mushroom cloud rose over Memphis, and on top of it sat the teenaged Elvis Presley. But what was Elvis listening to? Where did he get his raw material?
One of the two sources is on this DVD. Like an archeaological expedition, the filmmakers unearth an untouched civilization: Mississippi hill country blues in an amazing, extant form: THIS is the music, the sounds that travelled North, that reverberated 50 years ago out of the Delta to catch the imaginations of young people all over the world - everyone from the aforementioned Mr. Presley to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones on the other side of the pond. They recycled it, and sent it back to us. This is ground zero for Rock. Just as an embryo mutates, develops, and finally morphs into something quite unrecognizable from its original form, so has Rock moved many varied distances from its roots. But roots there are, and this is about as close as you're going to get without reading about it in some "History of Rock" book. This IS the history. Enjoy.
The Delta Blues !! 2007-03-20
I bought this based on the 3 positive reviews and I was not disappointed. I highly recommend this dvd. Great music and very interesting character studies. Five stars with no reservation IMHO.
you see me awed 2006-05-12
watch out powerful music with equally powerful personalites full of honesty music history personal insights and to some degree now sucess. bruce r parker rochester ny
Last of a dying breed 2005-08-07
This is the real deal...back-porch players in their own delta environment who don't give a tinker's damn about anything but playing their music, drinkin', and enjoying what's left of thier time on earth. Their sensibility is miles away from the music business as we know it, and thank God for it because most people are completely oblivious to southern blues musician mindset and would probably never have a chance to "get it" otherwise because most of these players are truly a dying breed.
This film captures the heart and spirit of real African-American bluesmen who are still poor after being semi-famous for years...and they really couldn't care less. R. L. Burnside in particular has been releasing albums and playing around for years, been reviewed and celebrated in all the best rock and indie-alternative press, and still lives like any poor, black rural working man. These guys don't care about fancy boutique amps and expensive "guitar show" instruments. They make all the sound they need from a typical hodge-podge of beat up pawn shop instruments, playing in some cases with simple buttern knives when their hands no longer work.
If you understand the connection that the ancient African music traditions have to roots American music, look no further than this movie as an example of how it was preserved and passed on in the new world to this present day. This film may be one of the last testaments to a culture that will surely disappear soon in this 21st century.
