Skip James
Acting
Biography
Nehemiah Curtis "Skip" James was an American Delta blues singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter. His guitar playing is noted for its dark, minor-key sound, played in an open D-minor tuning with an intricate fingerpicking technique.
Known For
The Blues (2003) is a seven-part documentary series produced by Martin Scorsese that explores the history and influence of blues music. Each episode, directed by a different filmmaker, traces a unique aspect of the genre’s evolution—from its African roots to its global impact. Originally airing on PBS, the series includes Scorsese’s Feel Like Going Home, Wim Wenders’ The Soul of a Man, Richard Pearce’s The Road to Memphis, Charles Burnett’s Warming by the Devil’s Fire, Marc Levin’s Godfathers and Sons, Mike Figgis’ Red, White and Blues, and Clint Eastwood’s Piano Blues.
The Blues
The foehn researcher paints watercolors in which he documents the state of the world and records his visions of what is happening, while he berates the Minister of the Interior savagely. The film tells the imaginary story of the Bavarian Jammersee in fragments. The nuclear missile “Herrsching 2” - the Bavarians have finally provided for their own defense - is to be stored in a depot at the Jammersee. However, this comes into conflict with the other plan to fill the Jammersee with the ashes of the six million murdered Jews.
Die Föhnforscher
Wim Wenders looks at the dramatic tension in the blues between the sacred and the profane by exploring the music and lives of three of his favorite blues artists: Skip James, Blind Willie Johnson and J. B. Lenoir. Part history, part personal pilgrimage, the film tells the story of these lives in music through an extended fictional film sequence (recreations of '20s and '30s events - shot in silent-film, hand-crank style), rare archival footage, present-day documentary scenes and covers of their songs by contemporary musicians such as Shemekia Copeland, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Garland Jeffreys, Chris Thomas King, Cassandra Wilson, Nick Cave, Los Lobos, Eagle Eye Cherry, Vernon Reid, James "Blood" Ulmer, Lou Reed, Bonnie Raitt, Marc Ribot, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Lucinda Williams and T-Bone Burnett.
The Soul of a Man
Shot after hours at Newport Folk in 1966 by American ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax, this recording features 14 performances by such blues greats as Son House, Skip James and Howlin’ Wolf among others.
Devil Got My Woman: Blues at Newport 1966
Taken from the European tours organised for American blues musicians between 1962 and 1969, this release features performances by several popular blues artists, including: Big Mama Thornton, Roosevelt Sykes, Buddy Guy, Dr. Isaiah Ross, Big Joe Turner, Skip James, Bukka White, Son House, Hound Dog Taylor and Little Walter, Koko Taylor and Little Walter, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Helen Humes, Earl Hooker, and Muddy Waters.
The American Folk Blues Festival 1962-1969, Vol. 3
A travelogue through the Mississippi delta searching for the heart and the spirit of the blues.