Perfect,’ was the one word Folk music archivist Alan Lomax penned in his journal the night he recorded ‘Mississippi’ Fred McDowell. McDowell’s bottleneck style of guitar playing exhibited a beautiful touch and resonating voice-like phrasings that allowed the guitar to speak. Fred McDowell’s contemporaries were the Delta Blues musicians of the 1920’s and 30’s, and his style was entrenched in the traditional Blues performance of that era. Preferring gigs at the Como Stuckey’s candy store or a fish fry here or there, Fred McDowell was a cotton farmer in Como, Mississippi, when Alan Lomax recorded him in 1959, but by 1964 McDowell was a recognized recording artist.
Chris Strachwitz, owner of the small recording label Arhoolie, produced two recording sessions that became a compilation of McDowell’s originals and traditional Delta Blues classics called Mississippi Delta Blues. The album was reissued five years ago as You Gotta Move. The ensuing success of this recording set Fred McDowell out on the Folk music circuit, taking the stages at the prestigious Newport Blues Festival and the American Folk Blues Festival in Europe. Artists such as Bonnie Raitt and The Rolling Stones added Fred’s songs to their live shows and recordings. Fred McDowell is considered one of the quintessential Delta Bluesmen.
— (Blues Foundation press release, 2000.)