Fall 2021 Showcase Larson

David Larson
Clarksdale Blues

This project is a look into the unique characters who live and work within the blues oriented economy in Clarksdale, Mississippi.  The community is economically disadvantaged but still musicians come from across the world to make their home in the historic, “land where the blues began.”  Interviews with local artists will be interspersed with video and photo clips that try to sketch out the physical environment.  Blues tourism and the local legacy of the blues are two things that I am especially focusing on.  There is a complicated relationship between what tourists expect to see and what is more historically accurate.  Performers are inclined, then, to alter their act in order to fit audience expectations.  Blues typically focuses on getting through hard times and it is little wonder that blues performers are willing to adapt to fit what the audience would like to see.  This project seeks to show scenes that are both real and contrived to illuminate the complex world of blues tourism in the Mississippi Delta.

David Larson is a graduate student in the Southern Studies program.  His research is focused on blues music and culture in the American South.  David is originally from California but now lives in Oxford, Mississippi.