Deep Inside the Blues: Photographs and Interviews by Margo Cooper (University Press of Mississippi, 2023)
Deep Within the Blues compiles thirty-four of Margo Cooper’s interviews with blues artists, complemented by over 160 of her photographs, many of which are published here for the first time.
Over the course of three decades, Cooper has been meticulously documenting the lives of blues musicians, exploring their families, homes, neighborhoods, festivals, and gigs. Her photographic portfolio blends iconic late-career images of legendary figures like Bo Diddley, Honeyboy Edwards, B. B. King, Pinetop Perkins, and Hubert Sumlin with youthful snapshots of Cedric Burnside, Shemekia Copeland, and Sharde Thomas, now in their thirties and forties.
Since 1993, Cooper has ventured into clubs across New England, Chicago, Mississippi, and Helena, Arkansas. During her initial trips to Mississippi in 1997 and 1998, she had the privilege of capturing images of Sam Carr, Frank Frost, Bobby Rush, and Otha Turner, among others. “The blues come out of the field,” remarked Ulmer to Cooper. Witnessing the fields, old juke joints, country churches, and people’s homes inspired her deeply.
Cooper embarked on recording interviews with the musicians, sometimes spanning years, engaging in conversations as their narratives unfolded. The passing of many key blues players from that era adds a poignant and valuable dimension to both their stories and Cooper’s photographs.
Margo Cooper, the author, is a photographer and oral historian dedicated to the classic documentary tradition. A longtime contributing writer and photographer for Living Blues magazine, her work has also graced the pages of the New York Times Lens blog.
Hardcover: 9781496847416, 384 pages, 168 B&W photographs, November 2023
Author: World Music Central News Room
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