Son and Son

I met James "Son" Thomas in 1978 in Yazoo City, MS, where he had been brought in by a state education program to educate youth about Mississippi Delta Blues. Who better than Son Thomas of Leland, MS to do it?

I was working for the Yazoo City Bureau of the Jackson Daily News at the time. Unfortunately the paper didn't know anything about setting up a bureau, and neither did I. It's sister paper, the Clarion-Ledger, was the one that had the bureaus.

Since I didn't have an office, I worked out of my apartment. Son came to the apartment twice over the course of three days. We ate, I asked questions, he gave answers, I wrote answers down, etc., you know–the usual reporter thing.

But mostly he played. His own style of blues, with that falsetto voice that was known throughout the "Blues World." I did a full page on Son Thomas, complete with pictures and an article.

Two regrets:I wish I had a copy of that page. And, damn, I wish I had recorded him. I'd love to hear it now.

His son, Pat Thomas, will play at the sixth annual Highway 61 Blues Festival in Leland Saturday, June 5. "They" say he sounds just like his father. I'll be there to hear him.

http://www.highway61blues.com