In South Carolina you have to earn your stripes in the music scene. Either that or you’re exceptionally talented and everyone wants a piece of you. The Morris brothers seem to have risen to the top a bit faster than other bands. I’m not implying that they haven’t earned their stripes, just that their stripes have come a tad easier.
What it boils down to is that everyone writing about them, putting them on festival line ups, and telling their friends about them know that The Mobros are something special. Just 5 seconds into the “Mississippi Woman” video appears one more man who hears that these guys have it. O’Neal Compton’s voice tones in with the same type of role in this video that has made him famous over the years. Since pretty much retiring from acting nearly 15 years ago, Compton has dabbled. He loves his photography, he loves his politics, but even more than all of that he loves his blues. And he loves belting it out on harmonica. When you have O’Neal Compton on your side, you know everything will be alright.
Being young to an old mans genre, and bearing a range of influences, The Mobros play some of the freshest blues you’ll hear anywhere. All you need to do is tell your friends about them.
It’s the summer of 1955, and it is hot like your Grandpa’s homemade hot sauce. The Morris Brothers have been locked up for “O” some time in Choctaw Penitentiary. Still young and ambitious, their long road to freedom comes to life on screen. The voice of an unsung soul sings his story with the honesty and grit of a field holler. Morals are uncovered with each step the brothers take through the muddy Mississippi. If it is blood that the authorities want, well the mosquitoes have gotten the best of it. Southern dreams have always haunted the brothers internally with a pain that would give any inmate the “rabbit feet.” A road to accomplishment can easily turn into a road to perdition with the ivory tower at the end being a little smaller and not consisting of ivory.
