Atlantica - 01.02.2006, Page 48

WITNESSEDa
after the flood,” and how history has
repeated itself with the current crop
of New Orleans musicians who have
made their home in Oxford.
“You feel pretty guilty about hav-
ing these amazing guitarists from
New Orleans, but you also feel
happy to have them here,” he tells
me under his breath.
At Square Books, one of the great
independent bookstores in America,
I browse the ever-popular William
Faulkner section in preparation for a
visit to Rowan Oaks, but am drawn
to more contemporary writings by
the likes of Lewis Nordan and Larry
Brown about Mississippi blues and
the culture of the Delta, an area just
next door to Oxford.
The music and folk art of the Delta
has become an obsession in Oxford,
driving one local college student to
drop out and use his loans to start
the Fat Possum record label which
publishes the works of under-appre-
ciated blues musicians. Previously
obscure bluesmen like T-Model Ford
and RL Burnside are now household
names at Oxford. A name check
proves that more locals know these
bluesmen than Lucas Beauchamp or
Emily Greirson, two of my favorite
Faulkner characters that draw blank
stares when I attempt to reference
them. In fact, while Faulkner is heav-
ily recommended reading in town,
a number of people admit they’re
more fanatical about Barry Hannah,
a contemporary writer in the flour-
ishing local fiction community.
I wander out to Rowan Oak all
the same, speaking with the univer-
sity students who man the museum
as part of a work-study program.
One is a literature student, but she
claims she prefers English Gothic
literature to Faulkner, and the other
is a polite but indifferent student of
graphic design.
Polite indifference suits Rowan
Oak well. As aggressive as Faulkner’s
genius was, his daily life, as indicated
by his perfectly preserved home, was
more functional than obsessed read-
ers might expect. Viewing Faulkner’s
study, complete with the outline
for his last Hollywood screenplay
still penciled into the wall in his
scrawled print, makes the notion
of art – even the highest and most
complicated examples – accessible.
In fact, one can’t help thinking, look-
ing at Faulkner’s casual lifestyle, that
he had fewer materials and less assis-
tance than most.
SWEET HOME
From Oxford, I am told repeatedly
there is only one natural destination
for any visitor to the south under the
age of 50: Memphis. For Oxford and
New Orleans, I am not only visiting
after a disaster, I am visiting in the
off-season. Memphis, on the other
hand, never has a down time.
Whereas Oxford is a town obsessed
with the diversity of Southern cul-
ture, Memphis is more segmented,
perhaps because of its size. Sun
Studios, the place Ike Turner, Elvis
Presley, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee
Lewis all did their initial recordings,
is a find – the half hour guided tour
there is probably one of the best
services to the history of rock and
roll in existence.
Outside the Sun Studios tour, the
music scene in Memphis, compelling
as it is, focuses so much on labeling
and separation of styles or market
groups that fans of the diversity of
rock music may be disappointed.
When I ask music fans and record
store employees to recommend con-
certs, each type of music was usu-
ally evaluated first and foremost by
the crowd that would attend the
concert. Presented with ten good
concerts on a Friday night, I am told
that for the crowd that dressed like
me (a blue shirt and corduroys), I
would be expected to hear a woman
sing while playing a cello to a heavy
electronic drum beat.
Against all local advice, I go to
Beale Street to hear local blues.
Regarded as a tourist trap by most
of Memphis, it would be hard to
put down a street so dedicated to
both the blues and to neon even if
it were packed. But in December,
Beale Street is not crowded, and so
we find great blues musicians like
Dr. Feelgood Potts playing to empty
clubs.
During Dr. Feelgood Potts’s set
break, I ask the band about the
repercussions of New Orleans – if
Katrina was the reason I saw so few
visitors.
46 AT L A N T I CA
“You’re going to see
New Orleans musicians
everywhere in the US.
Maybe it’s a good thing
to come out of this.”
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