Deep Roots - Deep Roots: The Art And Music Of Bill Steber And Friends [DVD]

Cat. no: MVD18413D
Format: DVD
Barcode: 760137184133
Release Date: 24 Oct 2025
Genre: Soundtrack

DEEP ROOTS is music filmmaker Robert Mugge's feature-length portrait of respected Southern artist, photographer, and musician Bill Steber.

DEEP ROOTS is a 2025 feature-length music doc directed by Robert Mugge, and produced by Mugge with his partner Diana Zelman. It is intended as a companion piece to Mugge's acclaimed 1991 film DEEP BLUES, which examined blues traditions of the Mississippi Delta and North Mississippi Hill Country.

DEEP ROOTS explores the life and work of highly regarded Southern artist, photographer, and musician Bill Steber, while showcasing Black and white musical traditions of the 1920s and 1930s, rural music scenes of Mississippi and Tennessee, and connections between music and the visual arts.

The film's first half takes place largely in Steber's home base of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and its second half largely in the Mississippi Delta, which is a major focus of Steber's work. Included are interviews conducted at a Murfreesboro gallery exhibit of Steber's art and photography; visits to Clarksdale, Mississippi's Juke Joint Festival and Leland, Mississippi's Highway 61 Blues Museum; and public performances by three of Steber's primary music groups: Jake Leg Stompers, Stoop Down Rounders, and Hoodoo Men. Informative commentary is provided by music historian Scott Barretta, museum operator Billy Johnson, festival director Roger Stolle, and gallery curator Shannon Randol, as well as by Steber himself, whose witty musings enliven scenes throughout.

1. Jake Leg Stompers - My Four Reasons
2. Jake Leg Stompers - Sweet Lovin' Old Soul
3. Jake Leg Stompers - Rooster Sam
4. Jake Leg Stompers - Love Sick Blues
5. Jake Leg Stompers - The Yellow Dog Blues
6. Jake Leg Stompers - Crazy Blues
7. Jake Leg Stompers - Big Road Blues
8. Jake Leg Stompers - How Long, How Long Blues
9. Jake Leg Stompers - St. James Infirmary Blues
10. Hoodoo Men - If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day
11. Hoodoo Men - Rollin' and Tumblin'
12. Stoop Down Rounders - Devil's Backbone
13. Bill Steber; Pat Thomas - Catfish Blues
14. Stoop Down Rounders - Bentonia
15. Stoop Down Rounders - Black Cat at Midnight
16. Stoop Down Rounders - Any Kind of a Man Would be Better than You
17. Stoop Down Rounders - That's No Way to Get Along
18. Stoop Down Rounders - Murder of a Blues Singer
19. Stoop Down Rounders - Mary Don't You Weep
20. Jake Leg Stompers - Beale Street Holiday