I Am the Blues plot
“The old guys are slowly dying,” says harmonica player Bud Spiers in “I Am The Blues,” named after a Willie Dixon song. Later in the film we see Spies himself being buried. Director Daniel Cross did film more old men and a single woman (left-handed guitarist Barbara Lynn), who, despite their advanced age, are still busy with the blues every day in Mississippi. One of the last remaining blues devils he follows is Bobby Rush (1933). Rush says that in the early 1950s he toured the “chitlin' circuit”—special bars where blacks weren't bothered by the segregation laws—and performed there for some burgers or a few dollars at most. One of those bars is featured in the movie, the Blue Front Cafe is kept alive by musician Jimmy “Duck” Holmes (1947) and is part of the official Mississippi Blues Trail. Cross not only records the blues musicians' memories and jam sessions, but also their daily lives.