A Mississippi farmer spends his life working the land and throwing backyard barbecues for his neighbors, and somehow the music from those parties ends up in a Martin Scorsese film, on critically acclaimed albums, and in the middle of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Otha Turner was born in 1907 in Canton, Mississippi, and settled as a farmer near Como in Panola County. In 1923, at 16, he taught himself the fife, cutting his own instruments from local river cane and burning in the finger holes by hand. That imperfect, handmade tuning produced the microtones and blue notes that made his music sound as ancient as the earth it came from.

This episode explains what sets Hill Country blues apart from standard 12-bar blues, traces the fife and drum tradition from Civil War military bands to freed slaves blending them with African polyrhythms, and visi ...