Alabama Black Belt Blues (2020)

Alabama's blues tradition may be less well-known than Mississippi's, but it records the folklore of a state that has been long the epicenter of the struggle for Civil Rights. The film explores the rich and vibrant blues music tradition in Alabama stretching back to the early 20th century. It goes to pop-up juke joints like Dutt's in Panola, Alabama, situated in a doublewide trailer in a region of many trailers. It goes to the hard-to find Red Wolf Lounge on a back street near the Bessemer line in Birmingham, where a mostly Black audience parties once a week with a chicken fry outside and blues and Southern soul music inside. It goes to the trailer in Old Memphis, Alabama, where the late Willie King -- who gave away most of the money he made in concerts to his neighbors -- chose to live. The blues is still thriving, says one character in the film, because the color line still exists; that's why singers keep singing about it.