In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson had pushed for the passing of the Civil Rights act, making segregation in America illegal. The governor of Mississippi, the law and the KKK vowed to keep doing things their way, and continued to perpetrate violence on the local African-American population. They also made life extremely difficult for students from the northern states committed to the Summer Project which was devoted to getting African Americans in Mississippi to register to vote. The powers that be in Mississippi didn't like "outsiders" interfering in their business. Three students, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were all murdered by the local law representatives.

 

Quite separate from these tragic events, three young blues fans from the east coast and three from the west coast went searching in Mississippi for their blues heroes Son House and Skip James who had not been heard from for many years. They were naive about the events of the Civil Rights movement and their own danger. Their hopes were to learn from their heroes and coax them out of musical retirement. 

 

The stories are part of a 2016 documentary called Two Trains Runnin’. It’s directed by Sam Pollard and produced / written by Benjamin Hedin. Both men have a long history in film and book relating to the period covered in this documentary.  For episode 57 of See Hear Podcast, Bernard, Tim and Maurice were thrilled to have Benjamin come onto the show to discuss the film and the history behind it. These stories are parallel but converge. There are moments of terror trying to fathom man's inhumanity to man, and there are moments of celebration when the love of music brings people together. The film is rivetting viewing. Make this episode a priority – it’s an important one. We are hugely grateful for his time.

 

You can download the show by searching for See Hear podcast on iTunes or download from http://seehear.podbean.com.

 

You can purchase or rent the film at https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/two-trains-runnin/id1412361651 (and we highly recommend that you do).

 

See Hear Podcast is also now available on Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/show/58DUosxlE6vZHqgRdjKqZR

 

If you dig what we do, could you please rate us at iTunes or even better, spread the word that the show exists on social media or at your next barbecue, gig, or marathon run so more folks can tune in.

 

Please join our friendly Facebook group at  http://www.facebook.com/groups/seehearpodcast

 

You can send us emails at [email protected] to suggest films you'd like us to discuss, give us your thoughts on what we do or anything else music-film related.

 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices