re: Greatest Southern River Championship: The Tennessee River Wins!:Lawd:

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Who was the father of the blues, and where was he from?

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You're obviously thinking of Handy from Florence, Al.:

William Christopher Handy (November 16, 1873 – March 28, 1958) was an American composer and musician who referred to himself as the Father of the Blues.



African American composer W. C. Handy wrote in his autobiography of the experience of sleeping on a train traveling through (or stopping at the station of) Tutwiler, Mississippi around 1903, and being awakened by:

"... a lean, loose-jointed Negro who had commenced plucking a guitar beside me while I slept. His clothes were rags; his feet peeped out of his shoes. His face had on it some of the sadness of the ages. As he played, he pressed a knife on the strings in a manner popularized by Hawaiian guitarists who used steel bars. ... The effect was unforgettable. His song, too, struck me instantly... The singer repeated the line ("Going' where the Southern cross' the Dog") three times, accompanying himself on the guitar with the weirdest music I had ever heard."

Handy had mixed feelings about this music, which he regarded as rather primitive and monotonous, but he used the "Southern cross' the Dog" line in his 1914 "Yellow Dog Rag", which he retitled "Yellow Dog Blues" after the term blues became popular. "Yellow Dog" was the nickname of the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad.

The answer is Charlie Patton, he just didn't write it down.

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the intent was that the Motown Soul sound was not unique to MoTown.

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Wrong, you responded:

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The blues, motown, and traditional rock as well.

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To:

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southern rocks birthplace

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...implying that Muscle Shoals was the birthplace of the blues, Motown and traditional rock. It was not.

Don't get me wrong, Muscle Shoals rocks, but don't over play it.