"Worry Blues" (03:15)

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Mississippi Catfish was born in 1916. He sings "Worry Blues" accompanied by the harmonica, and describes what music means to him.

Blues Beginnings (01:34)

Mississippi Catfish was born into a sharecropping family in the Mississippi Delta. He began playing with bands playing at local dances as a teenager in 1928.

"Poor Boy Blues" (01:55)

Mississippi Catfish started singing "Poor Boy Blues" when he was building highways in Louisiana in 1928.

Rural Southern Life (05:08)

Mississippi Catfish's wife thought the blues was inappropriate for family life; he stopped playing until 1991. He describes sharecropping on cotton farms and helping landowners bail laborers from jail.

Recording with Catfish (02:30)

In 1979, guitarist Paris Simmons began visiting Mississippi Catfish's record shop; they laid down tracks over the next few years and began playing venues in 1991.

Inspiration for the Blues (02:14)

Mississippi Catfish discusses how jailed men, deprived of visitation rights, began singing about their problems. He and Simmons perform a song.

Credits: Mississippi Catfish: Blues Musician (01:30)

Credits: Mississippi Catfish: Blues Musician