Corey Harris: 2007 'Genius' of the blues, In his own words

Corey Harris is the only bluesman among the 2007 winners of the MacArthur 'Genius" Grant. In a Sept. 25 article on this year's awards, Harris told the Washington Post that he's tried to "make evident the connection between black culture in different parts of the world." Martin Scorsese chose Harris to serve as a guide for "Feel Like Going Home," the documentary Scorsese directed for his PBS series, "The Blues." And it would be fair to call Harris a student of the blues. But for Harris, the blues is very much a living tradition. In his own recordings --and in this short feature produced in 2004 -- Harris explores the musical connections between the Mississippi Delta and the West African country of Mali, especially in collaborations with Malian guitarist Ali Farka Toure. Harris also has followed the blues into into the realms of hiphop and George Clintonesque funk ? especially on his CD "Downhome Sophisticate," which got four stars from Rolling Stone. On his most recent CD, "Zion Crossroads," his blues journey is powered by Jamaican grooves. As in all the pieces in David Schulman's CPB-supported Musicians in their own words series, the story is told through a mix of the performer's voice and music. There is no reporter's voice heard, allowing the feature to be seamlessly incorporated into station news, talk, or music programming. Scripts for intro and outro are attached, and may be edited at will. This piece debuts on PRX.