Morgan Freeman Fits a Century of Blues Into 12 Tracks

Morgan Freeman enters Morgan Freeman’s Symphonic Blues Experience as a narrator and producer rather than a screen presence. Released by Decca on August 7, the twelve-track album traces a century of blues, beginning with Blind Willie Johnson’s 1927 “Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground” and ending with “I Lied to You” from the Sinners soundtrack.

The route is personal before it becomes historical. Freeman first heard the blues on his grandmother’s porch in the Mississippi Delta, and twenty-five years ago he helped open Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale. Several musicians on the album are regulars there. The project’s link to Mississippi is therefore carried by working players, not merely by a map and a familiar origin story.

The core performances were made at Lawrence “Boo” Mitchell’s Royal Studios in Memphis. Chineke! Orchestra recorded its parts at Abbey Road in London under conductor and music director Martin Gellner. This was not a vast ensemble gathered around one set of microphones. Its scale had to be assembled across two studios, leaving the arrangements to negotiate between the direct pressure of a blues band and the longer line of an orchestra.

“Death Letter Blues” makes the proposition audible. Taj Mahal sings and plays guitar on the new version of the Son House song, which House recorded in 1965 after his rediscovery. Freeman chose it as the first single and released it on Juneteenth. The symbolism is stated plainly; the harder task belongs to the performance, which has to enlarge the frame without tidying away the song’s grief.

Keb’ Mo’, Shemekia Copeland, Super Chikan and Anthony “Big A” Sherrod also appear across a programme that includes “Crossroads,” “Dust My Broom,” “The Thrill Is Gone” and “I’ll Take You There.” Freeman’s voice does not attempt to dominate that company. He marks the road, then leaves twelve performances to carry the century.