Introducing: Uncle Jessie White – Portrait of a Delta Blues Man in Detroit.

    Uncle Jessie White was a friend and mentor of mine.  I met him while attending the Polish festival in Hamtramck in 1995.  I had taken piano lessons as a child and when I saw him play his version of the Delta blues on the piano, I wanted to learn.  I introduced myself and asked if he would mind giving me lessons.  He was a very nice man and agreed.  Every Saturday, I would pick him up from his house near Livernois and Michigan Avenue.  (This was the same neighborhood where my grandparents grew up, and I lived as a baby).  He would teach me blues piano, and my 13-year-old son, guitar.  We would then drive to the Attic Bar for his Saturday night gigs. 

    Whenever we would play the piano, he would stop and go off into stories about old blues players, the south, cotton fields, sharecropping, juke joints, gambling and hangings.  The stories were mesmerizing and impactful, and when Doug Drummond told me he had some new film equipment and asked me if I knew of any good stories – I knew a great documentary could come of Uncle Jessie and his life stories.

    I acted as his manager and watched over him as he played in Dresden University in front of adoring European fans.  The Europeans appreciate our older blues players much more than we do in the US – many do not appreciate the gems we have in these older statesmen. 

    During the 67 Revolution/Riots (as some call it), the nightclubs closed, and people were afraid to go out at night.  Uncle Jessie and his family held weekly jam sessions, where blues players and their fans, would come from all over the region and play.  Assembly line workers from the south would leave the lines and attend these sessions.  It was a place where music healed and the cultures would mix in safety. 

If you want to learn more about the documentary and events at that time -- civil rights, the 67 Revolution, Blues in Detroit, Automotive History, African Americans in the Auto Industry, and much more, please view the website:  UncleJessieWhite.com


Come and see my documentary in the Detroit FREEP Film  Festival on March 31st at the Detroit Cinema theater! There will be a panel discussion afterward, as well as a blues band playing.  Or you can wait until it plays at the Ann Arbor Michigan Theater in June!


Find out more:
http://pcicoeveryvoicecounts.blogspot.com/p/project-narrative-uncle-jesse-white.html

Anne Marie Graham-Hudak

Guest Blogger