You See Me Laughin'

In juke joints slightly larger than pool tables, Mississippi bluesmen created the earthy sound that later fueled the rock revolution. Mandy Stein's modest chronicle celebrates and demystifies these musical pioneers, and what the documentarian finds is occasionally larger than life (Junior Kimbrough has 28 children, T-Model Ford was beaten so savagely that he lost a testicle). Besides being revered artists, these musicians are also laborers and farmers with bills to pay. There are no deals with the devil here—unless the horned one is a record-company exec or mortgage broker.