Because of my heritage as a descendant of Southern Unionist Republicans, I used to really admire Black Americans and their culture, going all the way back to the works of Joel Chandler Harris and B.A. Botkin. Because of this I've long been a fan of traditional acoustic country blues, especially from the Mississippi Delta (Charlie Patton!). I've been longing for years to visit the Dockery Plantation between Ruleville and Cleveland, which is where the blues was allegedly born and where so many of the great Delta bluesmen played and/or worked as farm hands. Several years ago I actually took a...