Keepin’ the Roots Blues Alive
Libby Rae Watson displays her deep roots at Oxford Blues Festival this September
Story by Davis Coen, Photos by Peter Lee and Deke Rivers
Not too many Mississippi musicians today celebrate the rich tradition of early country blues as well as Libby Rae Watson.
She brings her steady fingerstyle guitar picking, soulful moaning & crooning, and matter-of-fact storytelling to Oxford Blues Fest at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 14.
The Pascagoula-native bought herself a guitar in her early teens, but didn’t become devoted to blues music and its pioneers – many of whom were still living and actively playing at the time – until attending dental hygiene school in Jackson some years later.
“That’s where it all began,” Watson said, and credited the opportunity to be around new people as well as the musicians who played in Jackson for this revelation. Also, meeting future husband Bobby Ray, who like her was very big into blues.
Around that time, Watson was a self-proclaimed “bonafide hippie chick,” listening to the same blues-infused rock as most other kids. But her tastes evolved when she met and eventually became mentored by Sam Chatmon, the last living member of the Mississippi Sheiks, one of the most popular guitar & fiddle groups of the 1930s.
According to Watson, Chatmon provided a very important piece of advice, while she was trying to play something he had taught her. A little frustrated, she told him “I just cannot play it like you do, Sam.’”
Chatmon then replied, ‘“Well, ya ain’t supposed to, you’re not me! You need to take it and do what you want with it.’”
Watson said that his sage words gave her “permission not to be a copier,” and from then on would do some of the same songs, but would put herself more into it.
“It’s always very similar, and very close, but not exact,” said Watson. “Nobody would say a word, unless they’re from Europe,” she joked. “They’re such sticklers for perfection.”
She and Bobby Ray became more involved with numerous great musicians, and would eventually end up putting the talent together for the first Delta Blues & Heritage Festival, in Greenville in 1978.
Watson recalled her first few times visiting north Mississippi, and being around the communities of Nesbit and Pleasant Hill, since her ex-husband’s mother lived off Nesbit Road – only a few miles from where friend and still widely-beloved fellow blues player Kenny Brown grew up.
Along with meeting Hill country blues legends like R.L. Burnside and Johnny Woods, then she also encountered Stonewall Mays, who had a place off the Interstate 55 Coldwater exit.
“He had a song called ‘The Chattanooga Jump,’’ Watson said. “He was something else too.”
They would carry a little tape recorder around and capture what they could, which was “mostly people just talking, and (we were) not specifically interviewing or asking questions but letting them talk, and if there’s something you could add then you would, just like in normal conversation.”
Although she stored a lot of cassettes at her home on the Coast for years, besides becoming worn by age and the natural elements, they sadly met their final demise with the ravages of Hurricane Katrina.
Other players she befriended during her early blues quests were Hill Country blues matriarch Jessie Mae Hemphill, who was liable to fire warning shots at most unannounced visitors to her home, but gave Watson a pass.
“Being a female kind of assisted some of those situations. She would talk to me, where she might not talk to other people,” she said. “It was ‘The Jessie Mae Show’ when you went to see Jessie Mae. She was a trip.”
A seminal relationship in Watson’s earlier days came from traveling to Crawford, MS with a friend to seek out Big Joe Williams, known for his distinct nine-string guitar sound, and for popularizing the blues classic “Baby, Please Don’t Go” in the 30s.
“We were poor and broke and just ridin’ the roads trying to get from one place to another,” she said. “So when we were going to see Big Joe – we were going to see Big Joe, and no one else.”
In November 1978, Bob Dylan had a concert at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson, and Watson & company decided to bring Big Joe to the show to try to get him backstage.
“We didn’t have any contact information for anybody, we just kinda showed up back there,” Watson said. “We explained our situation and they radioed ahead, and then, we were the only ones backstage at a Bob Dylan show. They wouldn’t even let the press back at the time.”
After a brief chat with Watson and a small group, Dylan disappeared into a back room with Big Joe, where she assumed he was hitting him up for cash.
“‘Little Bobby didn’t give me no money, but that’s ok,’” he would later tell them on the way back to the hotel.
Another career later
After being a dental hygienist for 30 years, Libby Rae enjoys opportunities to travel around the state playing festivals, listening rooms, and house parties as much as ever.
“It’s about the joy it brings ya,” she said, “plain and simple. Makes me happy to do it. I love to ride around. I love tellin’ people about Mississippi. I already had another life and career, so I’m feeling the urgency to keep moving.”
Recently she played the North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic in Waterford, along with her regular partner Bill Steber, who is not only a musician but has chronicled blues music as a journalist and photographer for over 30 years.
The Highway 61 Blues Festival in Leland, as well as the Sam Chatmon Blues Festival in Hollandale, and Deep Blues Fest in Clarksdale are among some others where Watson regularly performs.
“I just wanna keep movin’ and findin’ stuff,” she said, and that when there’s a lull between travels she’ll become restless before long.
Libby Rae released an album in 2022 titled, “She Shimmy,” which features several songs that reminisce about the blues greats she knew, particularly in its title track – as well as “Bluesman in My Graveyard,” and a fan favorite, “Big Joe.”
Like many musicians, she doesn’t consider herself an early riser, and feels she needs a strong cup of coffee before taking phone calls, or otherwise engaging in the day.
A song she’s recently been working on, called “Black Juice,” came about from a joke she had with her family, about not calling her until she’s had her morning coffee – for fear of her not answering or returning the call.
She also wrote a song about Bentonia that has been drawing some attention at shows. It intentionally conjures the distinct, eerie guitar style of the legendary Skip James, and Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, who continues to host shows there at Blue Front Cafe.
Although she’s witnessed the real blues first hand, Libby Rae remains ever humble.
“I’m just one of those people…I’m not a guitarist but I play guitar…I’m not a singer but I sing…and I’m not a songwriter but I write songs,” she said, with a laugh.
More information about Libby Rae Watson and Oxford Blues Festival is available at OxfordBluesFest.com.
