Mississippi Creates: Music
Mississippi Creates is a collaborative project between the MFA in Documentary Expression and Yoknapatawpha Arts Council started in 2021 by John Rash as part of his MFA Documentary Fieldwork course at the Center for the Study of Southern Culture. MFA students enrolled in the course are each provided with funding to produce a short documentary film highlighting musicians creating work influenced or inspired by the life, culture, and sounds of Mississippi. Each film pairs new original recordings of the musician performances with oral history interviews to capture both the craft and inspiration of the creative process.
5th Child
Produced and Directed by Sandip Rai & Katherine Aberle
Stephen Brown envisions a better community in his hometown of Jackson, Mississippi. Under the stage name 5th Child, he inspires others with politically charged hip-hop. As the purveyor of Briarwood Arts Center, he has built a community hub that offers resources for others to create and inspire through their own initiatives.
Jerry Jenkins
Produced and Directed by Elise-Joelle Denoulet
This short documentary highlights the community-building and storytelling of musician Jerry Jenkins. Working in Jackson, Mississippi, he evokes cultural memory through drumming and educates children about West African culture and the lineage of regional music traditions.
Graham Hamaker
Produced and Directed by Lilian Slaughter
Gulf coast native, Graham Hamaker, makes music with influences from the southern environment and his personal life.
Kill Command
Produced and Directed by Bethany Fitts
High school metal heads find each other and form a band as a means to make it out of their small town in Mississippi.
Big Clown
Produced & Directed by Christina Huff
Big Clown, a punk band that calls both Jackson, MS and Memphis, TN home, are interested in creating short, fast, disruptive bursts of creativity in a region of the country usually associated with negative stereotypes and a lack of underground culture.
Andrew Bryant
Produced & Directed by Sandip Rai
An intimate portrait of singer / songwriter Andrew Bryant and how his life and music have been informed by the rural areas of Mississippi. Andrew has traveled and performed across the country in bands and as a solo artist, but like his music, he is always rooted in the small town he calls home.
Tyler Keith
Produced & Directed by Kelly Spivey
Tyler Keith plays punk-inspired rock and roll influenced by his love for Mississippi and Memphis musicians, authors, and filmmakers. Tyler’s story is told through oral history and two of his songs performed in their entirety at the Lyric theatre in Oxford, Mississippi.
The Yoknapatawpha Arts Council support of this project was made possible by funds from Cathead Vodka, Mississippi Humanities Council and the Mississippi Arts Commission and if part of our mission to provide programs that highlight the talent within our community and provide community members deeper understanding of the creative process.
Schaefer Llana
Produced & Directed by Annemarie Anderson
Schaefer Llana is a musician and audio engineer based in Water Valley, Mississippi. Originally from Batesville, Mississippi, Schaefer takes inspiration from Mississippi’s environment and its deserved musical reputation of the Delta and Hill Country.
The Yoknapatawpha Arts Council support of this project was made possible by funds from Cathead Vodka, Mississippi Humanities Council and the Mississippi Arts Commission and if part of our mission to provide programs that highlight the talent within our community and provide community members deeper understanding of the creative process.
