Various Artists - Preachin' the Blues: The Music of Mississippi Fred McDowell

In celebration of Mississippi Fred McDowell's legacy, twelve leading figures in contemporary blues - including Charlie Musselwhite, Tab Benoit, Sue Foley and Steve James - came together to record this 2002 tribute album. In a career that spanned a half-century and endured the evolution of American popular music from its earliest roots in the Mississippi Delta to the birth and proliferation of rock and roll in the '50s and '60s, Fred McDowell defied fashion and stood out from the pack by remaining true to the same deep Delta roots that spawned his two primary influences, Charley Patton and Son House.His unswerving commitment to the most basic vision of the blues - even as late as the mid 20th century - played an incalculable role in the folk-blues revival of the late '50s and early '60s. And for a guy who openly denounced rock and roll to the very end, his influence on artists like the Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt, and the Mississippi All-Stars can't be denied.