Robert Mugge’s Film “Deep Sea Blues” (DVD) | (Coming Oct. 6, 2009)

The blues isn’t dead . . . it’s simply on vacation!

Seven-day
Caribbean cruise featured Bobby Rush, Buckwheat Zydeco, Otis Clay, Taj
Mahal, Fabulous Thunderbirds, Commander Cody, Lil’ Ed & the Blues
Imperials, Ruthie Foster, Mel Waiters,
Watermelon Slim, Michael Burks, Ronnie Baker Brooks and more.

LOS
ANGELES, Calif. — Since the 1960s, generations of fans have adopted
outdoor festivals as the ideal place to experience live musical
performances. But in recent years, the best American roots music
festivals have moved onboard specially chartered cruise ships. One of
the first and most successful of these, Roger Naber’s Legendary Rhythm
& Blues Cruise, is nowadays considered to be the true “Woodstock of
the Waves.” At the same time, these “blues cruises” are a welcome
contemporary refuge for artists who once performed the juke joints and
Chitlin’ Circuit clubs throughout the South, most of which have now
disappeared.

Deep Sea Blues, renowned documentary filmmaker
Robert Mugge’s two-hour portrait of the January 2007 Blues Cruise to
the Caribbean, captured many of the 70 performances by 14 artists. The
festival featured blues performers Bobby Rush, Buckwheat Zydeco, Tab
Benoit, Tommy Castro, Otis Clay, Taj Mahal, the Fabulous Thunderbirds,
Commander Cody band, Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials, Michael Burks,
Deanna Bogurt, Ruthie Foster, Phantom Blues Band, Joey Gilmore, Mel
Waiters, Ronnie Baker Brooks, Watermelon Slim, Mitch Woods, Earl
Thomas, Leon Blue and Tasha Taylor. The commercial DVD of Mugge’s film
is set for release October 6, 2009 on Micro Werks, distributed through
the Infinity Entertainment Group (also the home of Collectors’ Choice
Music). List price is $19.98.

Executive producer Roger Naber
recently celebrated his 30th anniversary as a promoter of blues
concerts and cruises. Multi Grammy Award winner Taj Mahal, who appears
on Deep Sea Blues, says of the floating festival, “It’s not Disney
World. It’s about people relaxing, enjoying themselves, and spending
time with others who enjoy the same kind of music as they do. It’s
amazing how people can really connect through the blues and R&B.
Every year you can set your clock by it.”

The 2007 Blues Cruise
to the Caribbean included daylong stops on the islands of St. John, St.
Barths and Grand Turk, two of which featured additional concerts and a
“blues wedding” on the beach. The film is presented on the DVD with
seven bonus performances: extended versions of songs by Tab Benoit,
Otis Clay, Michael Burks and Joey Gilmore, plus additional songs by
Duwayne Burnside, Murali Coryell and Jimbo Mathus.

Mugge is the
producer/director/editor of such films as Last of the Mississippi
Jukes, which chronicled the final days of Jackson, Mississippi’s Subway
Lounge; Deep Blues, in which writer Robert Palmer and Eurythmic Dave
Stewart explored the Mississippi juke joint scene; Gospel According to
Al Green; Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise; Pride and Joy: The Story of Alligator
Records; and dozens more. The New York Times cited Mugge’s “documents
of a flourishing below-the-radar culture, often involving older
musicians who won’t be around much longer. They are archival records as
well as entertainments.” He has recently been named to the Edmund F.
and Virginia B. Ball Endowed Chair in Telecommunications at Ball State
University.

According to Mugge, “As juke joints and chitlin’
circuit clubs disappear, leaving many regional artists cut off from
both their origins and their natural audiences, other venues and other
audiences come forward to fill the gaps. Among those newer and less
ramshackle venues are annual music festivals and upscale music clubs
both in North America and abroad, which at least provide the artists
with occasional paychecks and exposure to wider audiences. Ironically,
though, perhaps the best place to hear live blues, R&B, zydeco and
gospel music today — and the best place to perform them — is on cruise
ships sailing from Florida into the Caribbean, and from California into
the Pacific . . . The Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise creates a
magical and protected space where musicians and fans can relax
together, party together, and share their abiding passion for America’s
most fundamental musical heritage. As strange as it seems, when the
Blues Cruise magic truly takes hold around two or three in the morning,
dancing to Otis Clay, Tommy Castro, Ruthie Foster or Buckwheat Zydeco
on the Pool Deck feels a whole lot like eating barbecue, drinking white
lightning, and dancing till dawn at Junior Kimbrough’s juke joint.
Although the circuits may change, that down-home spirit remains the
same.”