I’ve crossed the Mississippi and I’ve savoured the magic cultural melting pot that is New Orleans. Adelaide is a long way from New Orleans and I had the jet lag to prove it, but the two cities have more common than one would imagine at first glance. New Orleans is the heart of the Mississippi delta, and Adelaide adjoins the mighty Murray delta. A long bow maybe, but Adelaide is home to a lively underground blues music scene. Cal Williams Jr is at the heart of that scene and with bassist Korey Horwood and blues harp player Lightnin’ Will Kallinderis, he treated the punters at the Wheatsheaf to a wide ranging if jumbled history of Mississippi Delta Blues music.

A History of Early Blues at the Adelaide Fringe

Question: Why are so many of the original famous blues musicians blind? (Blind Blake, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Boy Fuller, Blind Willie Johnson). Answer: It was the only way to feed yourself if you couldn’t work in the cotton fields. I learned the definition of a resonating guitar, that twelve-bar blues rhythm was based on the sound of a steam...