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| Copyright Gary Tennant |
I have compiled all the previously unknown information about
Belton Sutherland, who several musicians have lamented about not knowing any historical information on this fiercely iconoclastic
blues artist. For example:
Several members of WeenieCampbell.com have expressed their sadness over
the lack of information available about Belton Sutherland. One member, for example, states, "I wish
there was more info out there on Belton Sutherland." Another
contributor admits, "He is filmed performing two fine songs in Canton,
Mississippi, but nothing else is said about him. His songs are quite good. Wish
there was more of him." Yet another contends that he may have
only “recorded three songs, but they were powerful." Michael
Cardenas asserts that the Land Where
the Blues Began is a "Crucial DVD and Belton steals it." One of the newer members of the site writes,
"I don't know how 'obscure' this bluesman is, but...[h]e only recorded 3
songs with Alan Lomax & all 3 were very raw, incredibly powerful songs. He
looks & sounds like a man who has lived the blues his entire life."
An Unmarked Biography of Belton Sutherland
by T. DeWayne Moore
Belton Sutherland was born on February 14, 1911--the same year as Robert
Johnson came into the world of Jim Crow, Mississippi. His parents,
William and Mattie Sutherland, already had eight children, and they would have
four more after Belton, making a total of thirteen. The Sutherland family
worked as sharecroppers in the small hamlet of Camden, Mississippi, not too far
from St. John M.B. Church. In fact, Belton lost his mother shortly before
his eighth birthday, and her grave is located behind the church. His
mother's grave was marked following her death with a modest, yet very
respectful, headstone. While he loses his mother
before a census enumerator ever writes his name in the 1920 Census, he would
grow up quick as a motherless child, get married to woman named Louise, and
move to Holmes County by the time his name name is again put to parchment for
the federal government in 1930.  |
| Clarion Ledger, March 10, 1937. |
It remains unclear what events transpire over the next seven years, but in the
late 1930s, Belton had moved back to Madison County, where he gets arrested for
forging a $25 check. The judge sentenced him to two years on the state
prison farm at Parchman. After serving only eight months, however, the
remainder of his sentence got suspended by the governor. Not yet thirty
years-old but the future show-stealer already knew how it feels to be a motherless
child and to get convicted of forgery despite one census enumerator noting that
he never had the opportunity to pickup reading and writing, at least not in his
young life.
He stayed close to his home in Camden after his fortuitous release from prison,
and he settled down to farming as well. He also played music on a
semi-regular basis with Clyde Maxwell, of Canton, a versatile musician who
played both fiddle and guitar. Largely unknown to the outside world, he
was a mountain in his own neck of the woods and folklorist Worth Long had
recognized his spellbinding performance ability during his many travels in the
deep South during the 1960s and 1970s for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee (SNCC). Long and other SNCC workers spent a great deal of
time organizing in Madison County with local movement leaders such as C.O.
Chinn and Annie Devine. Long did not forget him or Maxwell when he
returned to Mississippi in 1970s--first as a consultant for the Festival of
American Folklife--and as a consultant for folklorist Alan Lomax, who,
having been absent from the scene for almost two decades, sought advice on
locating talented individuals to participate in the documentary, The Land
Where the Blues Began.
The amazing performances of Belton Sutherland would be the only recorded
evidence of his greatness. Only local people had the pleasure of enjoying his
company and music during his more than seventy years on this earth.
Though his on-screen sometimes playing partner Clyde Maxwell would make the
trip to Washington County in October to perform at the inaugural Delta Blues
Festival, for unknown reasons the field-hollering and guitar-playing blues
shouter from Madison County did not come with him. I located his funeral
notice in the Jackson Clarion-Ledger (attached). Sutherland ascended on
October 7, 1983, and the local blues belter was buried by People's Funeral
Home, of Jackson. He was laid to rest near his mother's grave in the
cemetery behind St. John Missionary Baptist Church.
On March 30, 2017, I received am email from Canton native Joe Austin, who
agreed to drive over and walk the cemetery. Though another graveyard
bloodhound had walked the burial ground already and turned up nothing for
Belton, the light was shining down on this day. He wrote:
"Success! I did a bit of searching and found St. John's Missionary
Church..and drove out to the site. I walked the graveyard until I found
Mr. Sutherland's plot, took some photos and visited with him for a bit as well.
I told him about you and the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund and played “I Got Trouble”
for him while letting him know his music lives on, even to this day. And
although it's an overcast and dark, rainy day, it was so...joyous! I
can't fully describe it, but it was so deeply gratifying to me on so many
levels. Thank you. Seriously, thank you for allowing me to help in your
research." Attached to the email was a photograph of the blues
singer's temporary marker that the funeral home placed atop his grave.
We recently met the pastor, Rev. Luckett, at the church, walked over to
the gravesite, and explained our mission at the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund, and as
much about the blues singer and all the forgotten bluesmen of his era, as well
as anything else they'd let us talk about. Rev. Luckett remembered
him playing guitar, but he was completely unaware of his immense talent.
We played the videos for him (with Belton, we're sure, resting in peace and
grinning right next to us). He was blown away. All smiles. Rev. Luckett was so
proud, he exclaimed, “I got a bluesman in my graveyard!” They're excited
and humbled about this revelation and we assured Pastor Luckett we'd keep him
in the loop on the project goals and current events as they unfold.
We advised that he remove the metal plaque marking the grave so no one would
remove it for them. We plan to donate it to a museum, but for right now we are soliciting donations to erect a marker
inline with those of his other family members through a GoFundMe account
- www.gofundme.com/headstonebluesinitiative
We have some postcards with his temporary marker on them that we have been
sending out to anyone who contributes. This campaign is very unique in
that only musicians and folks who really know about the blues even know
Sutherland. I hope you enjoyed the story. Thank you...
Belton Sutherland
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