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Photo Collection By Photographer John R Allison |
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John R Allison was born in Manhattan, NY, in 1959. He is the son of world famous Jazz/Blues musician, Mose Allison. Ever since John was 4 years old he began spending summers with his relatives in the heart of the Mississippi Delta. It was the place where his father Mose was born, Tippo, Mississippi. John remembers the juke joints on his grand parents cotton farm and first ventured to enter one when he was 10 years old. John recalls, “ That seemed to be where all the action was, it was so exciting.” “Shotgun holes in the roof and the outdoor bathrooms had no structure at all, it was just an area on the ground.” “Saturday nights in Tippo were just hopping,” John remembers. Tippo was a small hamlet at a crossroads deep in cotton country. “I remember seeing a sign in the early 60s just outside of Tippo. It read, Tippo, Mississippi, Population 50 (not including the blacks). It was during one of these visits to Tippo when young John witnessed a impromptu performance of a one-man band. “He was an older black man playing a big fat guitar and he had a drum rigged up to his feet and a trumpet, or some kind of horn, propped up around his neck. It was a very strange and mesmerizing sight for me at that age.” “I think it was at that moment I realized that this place had a music all its own, and, it was beautiful.” At an early age John had developed an honorable respect for the Mississippi blues and that kept him returning to the Mississippi Delta. He started bringing Juke Joint acts from the Delta up to play in sold out New York City clubs. It caught on and soon John was producing New York City’s Mississippi Delta Blues Festival. John started out traveling the Mississippi Delta roads when he was a teenager. “I knew all the little places to eat, drink and listen to stories and I wanted to capture and preserve that way of life View some articles about John: Arizona Daily Star Tucson Weekly |
before it disappears.” “I would travel through the Delta with a 35mm camera, an 8mm movie camera and a hand held tape recorder just getting people’s stories.” At all the premier Blues festivals John was always permitted backstage due to his fathers status as a world-class musician. It was at these festivals where John captured many of the photographs in this collection. “I really wanted to share this experience with the world. The old stores, the old bluesmen, and the way of life in the Delta that has given way to a new way, and maybe, in some respects it is a good thing. It is nice to see brick homes now, but I miss the character of the old wooden locally owned stores, they are disappearing fast.” One thing is for sure; the blues will live on. These digitally enhanced photographs in John Allison’s Collection represent a time and a place that is vanishing. “It is with great pleasure and pride that I present this collection of photographs to the public. I hope you enjoy them as much I do.” These are Numbered Limited Edition Prints Custom sizes are available upon request.  |
