As part of our mission of "Teaching Tolerance, Enriching Minds", Bluejeans' Place announces a new initiative called the Blues History Documentary Projectã.

As time marches on, many of the entertainers and their origins have disappeared into the mists of history with barely a trace.

• The grave of Charley Patton was nearly lost forever when its original marker disappeared into a Delta cemetery's soil and wearing of the elements.
• Robert Johnson's actual grave is subject to at least three locations due to poor contemporary documentation at burial.
• While better known for jazz recording, the Gennett Studios where Charley Patton and other blues legends made their records in the early part of the 20th Century is in near total disrepair with few pictures remaining of its once graceful industrial appearance.
• The railroad crossing at Moorhead, Mississippi, mentioned at length in a classic blues song, is no longer a working junction, but merely a ghost of itself and slowly disappearing.
• Dockery Plantation, home of Charley Patton and other blues greats, often considered where blues music first emerged from the grunts and moans of slaves and former slaves, was nearly destroyed in a state highway realignment in 2000.

The blues music fan community can do better than lose sight of its musical heritage.  To that end, the Blues History Documentary Projectã incorporates the existing performance and historical photographs and text already shown on Bluejeans' Place, with others to be researched, photographed, and documented in the future.

This project of a non-profit nature includes photographing and documenting:

• Blues entertainers during performances
• The origins of the entertainers and their music
• Their graves when they've gone to the Great Stage In The Sky
• Blues music work sites such as recording studios
• Historical sites related to the origins and development of blues music

Visitors to Bluejeans' Place who know of blues-related places worthy of becoming part of this effort should drop me a line.  I'd love to hear about them to see if I can get there with my camera and note pad.  --  Pat Shediack aka Bluejeans

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Please note the term Blues History Documentary Project is copyrighted. See the Privacy and Copyright Notices Page for Details.